Just When You Thought the Worst Was Over
by shadowycat
Summary: Snape thinks he's finally won. Voldemort is dead, he isn't, and Potter has the evidence that will exonerate him. All he has to do is be patient and a new life of freedom will be his for the taking. What could possibly go wrong?  AU,Slash,Character Death
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

When his eyes snapped open, Severus Snape found himself staring up at a ruined ceiling in a darkened room. Remembrance and a faint sense of triumph flowed through him. He was in the Shrieking Shack, injured but alive, and blissfully alone. He'd been betrayed by the Dark Lord and attacked by his pet snake. Although he'd hoped to avoid it, such an attack wasn't exactly unexpected.

The Dark Lord was loyal to no one but himself. Sooner or later all his followers became his victims as he single-mindedly pursued his own personal desires and goals. Severus had watched from the side lines as many others, apparently loyal to the core, had been betrayed and discarded like unwanted trash, and he'd learned from his observations. Although he was a bit surprised it had taken as long as it had to happen to him, he'd been ready, and thus he was still breathing when so many others were not.

He frowned in concentration, trying to recapture the recent but still somewhat elusive past. He'd spoken to Potter. The image of Lily's eyes staring down at him loomed large in his thoughts. Had he told him what he needed to know? Had he given up his memories? Yes. Yes, he was sure that he had, and the boy took them. Surely he'd looked at them by now… believed them. Surely they'd matter. Only time would tell for certain. Right now, he had other things to worry about.

His mouth and neck throbbed to the beat of his heart. His tongue probed a sharpness where a tooth used to be. Though he didn't remember doing it, he must have swallowed the antivenin he'd concocted. If he hadn't, he wouldn't be lying here aching and uncertain; he'd be dead. Given the choice, he'd take the pain and be glad of it.

Slowly he brought his hand up to the side of his neck. He winced at the raw ache his probing produced and stared askance at the amount of blood coating his fingers when he pulled them back. First order of business was to stop the bleeding. After all the trouble he'd gone through, the last thing he wanted was to bleed to death in this hovel.

He groped at his robe for his wand, finally locating it on the floor by his side where it had fallen from nerveless fingers after he'd given his memories to Potter. With a sense of relief, he brought it to his throat and whispered a spell to seal the wound and begin the process of healing.

Dragging himself into a sitting position, he leaned against the wall. From an inner pocket, he removed a roll of gauze and a vial. With shaking fingers, he uncorked the vial and drank the contents, sighing at the welcome warmth that began to spread through his body and the relief from pain that followed. Then he used his wand to cut a strip off the gauze and affixed it to his throat as best he could. He'd need to do a better job later, but this would have to do for now.

Once he was finished, he dropped his trembling arm to his side and heaved a sigh. All he wanted was to give in to his exhaustion, close his eyes and sleep, but that would be a mistake. He had to discover what had happened while he lay oblivious to the world around him. Sooner or later someone would no doubt come to investigate, looking for him or simply looking, either way, waiting for them to show up wouldn't be wise. There was no guarantee who'd come or what they'd do to him if they found him. No, if he was found, it had to be at a time of his choosing and under circumstances that were to his advantage or everything he'd gone through would be for nothing.

First he had to discover whether or not the fighting was still going on, and if it was over, who won... Potter or the Dark Lord? For despite all the others taking part in the battle, he knew that in the end, it would come down to a confrontation between those two and those two alone. If Potter won, as unlikely as it seemed that he could, there was at least the tenuous possibility that Severus could live again as a free man, could finally have the life that fate and his own misguided actions had denied him.

On the other hand, if the Dark Lord had triumphed, then Severus knew that he'd better head for the furthest corner of the globe as quickly as humanly possible. Because if his former Master discovered that he was still alive, he'd remedy that error with swift finality, and his chances of escaping death a second time were very poor indeed.

In any case, continuing to sit on a blood spattered floor and wonder wasn't going to give him any answers. So, with a groan, Severus pushed himself to his feet using the wall for assistance, and as soon as the resulting wave of dizziness subsided, he began to move carefully toward the long, dark tunnel that would take him out onto the castle grounds.

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

Remus Lupin heaved a sigh of frustration and gazed around him at the muddy, churned up remains of what had once been an immaculate lawn surrounding the towering walls of Hogwarts castle. Two Aurors trudged slowly in his direction, levitating the dead body of one of their fellow combatants between them. As the men reached him, he put out a hand to try to stop them and flinched involuntarily as they passed right through him without pause, continuing on toward the castle as if nothing had happened.

This grim scenario had been repeated over and over again ever since he'd been blasted from his body and irresistibly drawn to Harry's side during the battle. Believing himself to be newly dead, he'd stood with James and Lily and Sirius as one of their company. He'd spoken with them and had reluctantly come to accept his fate, but when it was over, when Harry released them all to go on, the others vanished while he found that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't follow.

He'd tried to talk to Harry again, but once the others had disappeared, the boy acted as if he couldn't see him anymore, and apparently he wasn't the only one. Over the next few hours, Remus had tried to interact with anyone and everyone he met, no matter which side of the battle they'd fought on. He'd tried talking, screaming, and casting spells which appeared to have no effect; he'd even tried physically throwing himself at others, but nothing he did made any difference.

No one could hear him. No one could see him. No one could touch him or feel him try to touch them. He was utterly, miserably, inexplicably alone, able to see but not interact with the world around him, and he didn't have the slightest idea how it had happened or what he could do about it. If this was death, it was nothing like he expected.

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

Minerva McGonagall straightened up and pressed a hand to the ache in the small of her back. Weary beyond measure, she looked bleakly at the carnage that surrounded her. Everywhere she turned there were scars, on the lawn, on the castle facade, and in the ancient stones of its forecourt. But the hardest ones to bear were those in the eyes and on the bodies of the survivors who moved as if waking from a nightmare they hadn't quite managed to banish from their thoughts.

The most hated, most brutal person she'd ever known was finally gone forever. Dead at the hands of a young man who'd taken on a burden far beyond that which should have ever been expected of one so young. That he'd succeeded was undoubtedly cause to celebrate, and many had wasted no time in doing so, but Minerva didn't have the heart for it… at least not yet. The cost of his success was too immediate and far too high.

So much had been destroyed, so many had died, and for what? The vanity and ruthless greed of a single arrogant individual. She'd known the young Tom Riddle, had disliked and distrusted him, but never in her wildest imaginings could she have predicted the horrors he would unleash on her world. Now, as she stood and contemplated those horrors, she found herself fervently wishing that he'd never been born.

"Minerva?" a quiet voice pulled her out of her grim reverie.

She turned to see a pale and shaken Irma Pince standing beside her. An ugly bruise covered the left side of the librarian's face and her lip was cracked and slightly bloody. "Irma, are you all right?" Minerva asked in concern. "You should go and see Poppy."

Irma shook her head. "I've already been. She's got plenty of others to worry about who're much worse off than I am. Once I get to sit down and rest for awhile I'll be fine. Poppy sent me to find you. She wants to house the dead in one of the ground floor classrooms for the time being and use another as a temporary infirmary. She says she doesn't want to transport some of the injured too far without treatment."

Minerva nodded. "That makes sense. I'll go and talk to her. Is she in the west wing?"

"Yes, across from the classroom the centaur was using."

"All right. You go and get some rest." She briefly grasped Irma's arm and found the solid warmth of the contact heartening.

"I will, just as soon as I go and fetch some bandages for Poppy, then I have to go and check on the library. With all that's gone on around here, who knows what's happened to it." With a brief nod, Irma turned and headed for the main entrance of the castle. Minerva watched her go for a moment, then she, too, headed wearily back across the courtyard.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

From a first floor alcove near the main staircase, Severus peered down at the activity in the entrance hall and frowned in annoyance. Getting to any of his hiding places in the dungeons was clearly out of the question at the moment. He'd have to find somewhere else to stay out of sight for awhile.

As far as he'd been able to determine, Voldemort had been defeated. Potter was victorious, the last few straggling Death Eaters were being subdued and taken into custody, and far too much damage had been inflicted on Hogwarts and her students and staff. From this hiding place alone, he'd seen five shrouded bodies and a larger number of wounded carried into the castle and down into the west wing.

He assumed that must be where Poppy had set up a temporary workspace. Which probably meant the infirmary was empty, perhaps he could take refuge there for awhile; he could use a cleaner bandage on his wound and another pain potion. One of the ones he'd hidden in his robes had been broken when he was attacked.

After considering the idea for a moment, he dismissed it. Eventually some of the injured would be transferred to the beds there and people would be in and out gathering supplies. The infirmary wouldn't be a safe haven. He had to find someplace to go though, just until the after effects of battle had completely wound down and Potter had a chance to share the memories he'd been given with the others. Once everyone knew the truth, surely he'd be vindicated. He just had to keep out of sight until then.

Slipping further back into the alcove, he slowly got to his feet and considered his options. There was nothing on the first floor but classrooms and none of them had any special hidden compartments in them. If they decided to search the castle, which they no doubt would at some point, none of the classrooms would be safe.

The best place for him to go was back to the Headmaster's tower. No one except Potter knew how to get into it which should delay a search for awhile. There were several secret cubbyholes there he could hide in that no one else knew about. At least, he didn't think anyone currently alive knew about them, though he conceded it was possible that Minerva might know. He'd have to ask Albus's portrait. The portrait would help protect him. It owed him much more than that. It could tell anyone searching that no one had entered. The other portraits would follow Albus's lead if he asked them to. Yes, that would undoubtedly be his wisest course of action.

He glanced up into the higher reaches of the castle. The entrance to the tower was on the seventh floor, and he was currently on the first. He'd have to be very careful that he wasn't seen, but that shouldn't be too difficult at the moment, most people seemed to be milling around on the ground level. If he moved quickly, he should be able to get to the tower without getting caught. Of course, moving quickly wasn't something he was particularly good at right now.

Walking blatantly up the main staircase probably wasn't the wisest thing to do though, at least not without Potter's fancy cloak or a very well cast disillusionment charm. Since he had neither possession of the former nor the strength to produce the latter at the moment, more ordinary means of stealth would have to be used. He'd simply have to stay out of sight as best he could. Slipping out of the alcove, he turned and limped off down the corridor heading for a little used back stairway. Luck had been with him so far, hopefully she wouldn't mind walking beside him for just a little longer.

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

Remus stared across the damaged lawn at the castle. He knew he couldn't simply give up, but he wasn't sure what to try next. Magic didn't seem to work for him anymore. He'd tried casting spells, but all he could produce was a feeble glow at the end of his wand. If there were spells being created, they'd become as insubstantial as he had.

Slowly he began to drift off across the lawn. He couldn't really walk any longer. His feet didn't touch anything, so he couldn't get any traction. He tried to float as he'd seen other ghosts do, but he didn't seem to have the right knack. Hopefully he'd improve with practice, though who knew you'd have to practice to be a good ghost? That is, if he was a ghost.

Nearly Headless Nick once told him that when you died, you were offered a choice of whether you wanted to stay on earth or move on to the next life. He'd had the impression that this moment of decision happened almost immediately after death. At the time, he'd pictured a shadowy figure with a clipboard appearing at the side of the deceased person as their spirit drifted free of their body asking which destination they'd prefer and checking off the response with a firm hand.

Yet he'd been floating around for hours, and no one had popped up from the spirit world or the great beyond or wherever they came from to offer him anything. He wished he understood why. He should have asked James and Lily when he saw them, but at that point, he didn't realize he'd have a problem. Was he dead or wasn't he?

With a sigh, he stopped trying to move. He wasn't getting much closer to the castle. Impulsively he closed his eyes and attempted to apparate. It shouldn't work on the grounds of the castle, but what did he have to lose by giving it a shot? At worst he'd just stay where he was.

To his amazement, he immediately felt the familiar and vaguely nauseating wave of disorientation and discomfort that apparition always produced. When he didn't seem to be moving anymore, he opened his eyes and found himself shrouded in total darkness. He'd been trying to reach the main entrance of the castle, but where he'd ended up was anyone's guess. Did he say the worst that would happen was that he'd stay where he was? That should teach him to make assumptions ahead of the facts.

He tried to raise his hands, but he couldn't tell whether or not he'd succeeded. He couldn't see anything at all; the blackness surrounding him was too complete. Feeling the cold prickle of panic begin to well up inside him, he tried to move himself forward and, with an abruptness that was startling, his face popped out of the darkness and into the light. Looking around him he realized that apparating had worked after all, but instead of reappearing in the middle of the entrance hall as he'd intended, he'd ended up inside the wall beside the door to the Great Hall.

While the anti-apparition wards hadn't stopped him, nothing solid had either. Slowly he extricated himself from the wall and looked around. Lots of people were coming and going but, just like outside the castle, none of them paid any attention to him. Surely if any of them had noticed him pulling himself out of the wall, they'd have stopped and stared. In their place, he knew he would have.

A couple of Aurors were moving down the corridor that led into the west wing with two shrouded bodies floating along beside them so, for lack of anything else to do, he drifted along behind them and into a large classroom that was currently being used as a makeshift mortuary. It was disappointingly full of bodies. He noticed the Weasleys clustered around a table in one corner and with a horrible sinking feeling he wondered which one of them had died.

The Aurors he'd been following gently set one of their burdens on an empty table. One of them pulled the sheet off of the victim's face and the two of them gazed down at the body with sorrowful faces. When the sheet was lifted, a thatch of bright pink hair was revealed and Remus realized with a stab of pain that the body they'd been carrying was that of his wife.

He floated up next to the silent men and looked down at Tonks. Her face was almost as white as the sheet that covered her, but her features were calm in repose, as if she'd simply drifted off to sleep. As he reached out to her, one of the Aurors pulled the sheet back up to cover her completely once more. Then the two men moved on to another empty table where they set down their second burden before turning and trudging out of the room the way they'd come.

Remus ignored them. He let his fingers drift on down to Dora's sheet covered cheek, but they slipped on through her body as they did everything else of substance. She never should have been at the battle at all, they'd agreed that when the time came, as they both knew it soon would, she'd stay behind with Teddy. But, as with so many other things, when the time came, Dora acted on impulse. She just couldn't stay away from the action, particularly since she knew that Bill Weasley, the man she still loved and probably always would, would likely be involved.

Although she'd given up any hope of being with Bill when he remained true to his vow to marry Fleur, she never completely stopped loving him. You never stop hoping in your heart that the one you love will somehow, someday, come to love you back, and standing aside when they face danger is an awfully hard thing to do. Remus certainly understood that all too well, but now, looking down at Dora's still form, he wished that she'd listened to her head instead of her heart just this once.

He glanced over at the knot of grieving Weasleys. He was pretty sure that he could make out Bill as one of those still standing. Did he know Dora was dead? Would he care if he did? She'd loved Bill enough not to want anything to get in the way of his marriage once he fully committed to it, but, not for the first time, Remus wished that things had played out differently for them. Dora had deserved to be loved and mourned, by someone who'd loved her with all of his heart, and not just the part of it that didn't already belong to somebody else.

For a moment, Remus considered the idea of moving over to join the Weasleys, but before he could attempt to do so, he noticed Minerva standing by herself looking down at someone lying on a different table. Curious and a little fearful to discover who might be responsible for the sad expression on her face, he manoeuvred himself in her direction. He finally seemed to be making some progress in figuring out how to move where he wished, though it was still a much slower process than he wanted. When he reached her side at last, he glanced down and was shocked to see his own still face on the body in front of him.

So he really was dead, and here was the proof. It was hard to hope any longer that he might still be alive in some strange way when his body lay still and silent before him, covered in a shroud.

Without conscious thought, he reached out his hand and found something blocking his way. Some sort of physical barrier surrounded his body, preventing him from touching it. He laid his hands against this invisible wall and pushed with all his might, but it was no use. For the first time in hours, he'd found something that he could physically touch. That this force, whatever it was, covered his body, preventing him from touching and possibly re-merging with it, seemed significant to Remus, but he still didn't have a clue what it all meant.

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

"Minerva?"

Minerva jumped and dropped the shroud she'd been holding as Kingsley spoke her name. She placed a hand over her racing heart and turned to face the tall Auror.

"Oh! Kingsley. Yes, what can I do for you?" she asked, annoyed at herself for not noticing his approach.

Kingsley smiled sadly. "I'm sorry I startled you."

She waved a hand negligently. "That's all right. It's what I should expect for allowing myself to become lost in my own thoughts at a time like this."

Kingsley's face sobered and he looked down at Remus's still form, regret in his voice. "I heard that Remus was killed. I was hoping I heard wrong. He was a good man."

Minerva blinked back tears and abruptly pulled the shroud up to cover the face of her friend. She let her fingers linger for a brief moment on his shoulder before straightening up and turning to face Kingsley. "Yes, he was. A good, kind, decent man. We've lost too many of them today, far too many. Now what can I do for you."

Kingsley withdrew his gaze from Remus and faced Minerva determinedly. "We've covered the grounds of the castle thoroughly. Most of Voldemort's followers are in custody, those that survived, but there are a few we can't account for. Some certainly might have fled in the confusion, but we need to search the castle to be sure that none of them found refuge here."

Minerva nodded. "Of course. Have you… Did you…" She sighed. Why was it so hard to ask about Severus? Squaring her shoulders, she tried again. "Do you know what happened to Severus Snape? Has he been apprehended? Or... or was he really killed?" Why did that thought still bother her so much? It wasn't as if they were friends any longer.

"Ah…" Kingsley looked suddenly uncomfortable. "Well, that's a very good question. We aren't quite sure what happened to Snape. Apparently, he's been in deep cover all these years on orders from Dumbledore. It appears he was on our side all the time."

"What?" exclaimed Minerva in surprise. "You mean all those things Harry said to... to that monster were true? I assumed... I mean, I thought..." Her voice trailed off.

"That Harry was just winding him up? Trying to make him doubt himself? Maybe lose control?"

She nodded.

Kingsley shrugged. "Apparently not."

"So Albus was really dying? He really did ask Severus to kill him? How could Harry possibly know that?"

"I don't have all the details myself, but Harry came across Snape in the Shrieking Shack after he was attacked by Voldemort's pet snake. As far as Harry could tell, the man was dying but before he collapsed, he gave Harry some of his memories. The memories he shared seem to prove that everything he did, including killing Albus, was done at Albus's command.

"Albus knew he was dying; to be certain that Snape's loyalty wouldn't be questioned and he could continue to work against Voldemort from inside, Albus ordered Snape to kill him when the time was right. I have a feeling that there's a lot more to it, but Harry's convinced that Snape was really on our side all along."

Minerva felt stunned. Images of incidents from the last year they'd spent together flickered through her mind, presenting themselves differently in light of this new information. Hadn't there been many times when she'd wondered at Severus's true motivations for things he'd said and done? But had she ever let go of her pain at Albus's death long enough to follow up on her questions and doubts?

No, she was ashamed to admit she hadn't. She'd ruthlessly forced any such thoughts away and instead had forged her anger into shining armour which she'd donned each day to oppose him with a feeling of righteousness. Guilt was a bitter pill, and she felt the burn as it slid down her throat to lodge in the pit of her stomach.

"So, is Severus dead then?" she whispered.

"We don't know," answered Kingsley. "When Harry left him on the floor of the Shrieking Shack, he thought he was dead or just about to die. When I went to retrieve his body after the battle was over, it wasn't there. There was a lot of blood pooled and tracked around, and some of the footsteps that led away from the scene look as if they could be Snape's. We've been looking for him ever since. He's one of the people we want to search the castle for. Everyone knows that if they find him, they aren't to harm him. More than anyone else, we really need to talk to him."

The bitter burning in her stomach eased as Kingsley spoke. If Severus was still alive, then it wasn't too late to make amends, but they had to find him first.

Together they left the makeshift mortuary and walked back down to the entrance hall. There a small group of Aurors awaited Kingsley's orders. Minerva thought it interesting that Kingsley had assumed command, but he'd always been a natural leader, and really, who else was there with the moral authority to take charge of any Ministry group at the moment? Just the thought of cleaning out the rat's nest that was the Ministry of Magic, caused Minerva's head to spin, but she banished those thoughts and concentrated on the matter at hand. One crisis at a time.

Search parties were swiftly formed and fanned out to all sections of the castle. Privately thinking that the Headmaster's tower would be the best place to find Severus, Minerva headed for the main stairs with Kingsley at her heels.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

When the door fell shut behind Minerva and Kingsley, Remus floated to a stop and stared blankly at nothing as his mind raced to make sense of what he'd just heard.

Severus wasn't a traitor.

He wasn't a traitor.

He _wasn't_…

The small hard knot that had long occupied the space where his heart used to reside, suddenly released and a flood of warmth and pain twisted through him like a writhing serpent. For months, against all evidence to the contrary, Remus had held to the belief that Severus was with them, not against them. Despite the doubts of others, despite Severus's pulling away from him personally, despite the hateful things he'd said to sever their bond, Remus had always believed in Severus's fundamental goodness… until Albus was murdered.

No matter how hard he tried, he hadn't been able to reconcile that act of cold-blooded murder with the Severus Snape he thought he knew, and so he'd let himself doubt. He'd closed off his heart and moved on with his life almost without feeling, and now… now that he knew he'd been wrong. He didn't know what to do.

Even if it was too late for them to pick up the pieces of their shattered relationship and fit them together again. He had to know more. He had to find Severus and hear what had happened. He knew he'd never be able to really rest until he heard the truth from Severus himself.

With a new feeling of hope and determination, Remus glided through the door and down the hall, trying to follow Minerva and Kingsley, determined not to be kept in the dark any longer.

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

Severus closed the door as quickly as he could and leaned against it, listening intently. Footsteps paused outside in the corridor for a moment and his heart beat louder and faster until they continued on past and faded away. With a sigh of relief, he pushed himself away from the door and turned to face the room behind him.

He was in the library. He glanced around warily. When he'd heard someone coming, he'd ducked into the first room he could find. Apparently he'd underestimated the number of people who'd be wandering around on the upper floors of the castle. Until things quieted down a lot more, he wasn't going to be able to make it to the Headmaster's rooms. So, for the time being, he was stuck where he was.

As a temporary refuge, he could do a lot worse. The library was dim and silent. A lamp by Irma's desk threw weak fingers of light into the spaces between the nearest bookcases, but no one stood revealed by their touch. Thankfully, the huge room appeared to be empty for the moment.

Cautiously, Severus headed deeper into the room. There were many small study areas hidden back among the stacks out of sight of the desk. Perhaps one of them would do as a short-term hiding place. During his student days, he'd often been able to remain unseen for hours back there. Hopefully he hadn't lost the knack of using the bookcases as buffers between himself and any unwanted company. He should be able to hear if anyone entered the room, he'd just have to remain on his guard, which wasn't exactly a new experience for him. Watching his back came as naturally as breathing after all these years as a spy.

He'd barely settled into a dark, secluded corner when he heard the door to the library open and close once more. All was silent for a long moment, as if someone else was listening intently to see whether they were alone or not just as he had shortly before. Severus held his breath and clasped his wand more tightly, sinking further into the shadows. Something about the stealthy way whoever was out there was behaving didn't feel right. Surely legitimate searchers wouldn't seem so furtive.

It didn't take long before whoever was there apparently became convinced that he or she was alone and began to move around less cautiously. The sounds of movement remained at the front of the room near Irma's desk. Footsteps moved quietly into the stacks, and he heard the smooth sound of a book being drawn from its place on the shelf.

Then suddenly the door opened again, firm footsteps entered the room, crossed straight to the desk and Irma's voice called for the lamps to light themselves. As light came up throughout the room, he heard Irma gasp and cry out.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Her tone was first startled, then alarmed.

There was a sound of quick movement followed by the sharp crackle of a hex exploding from a wand. A shrill scream of terror cut suddenly short rippled through the air. There was a loud thump, then a pause followed by a second thump, softer than the first. Then silence reigned once more.

Shocked, Severus froze for an instant before inching his way toward a spot where he could peer around the edge of a bookcase and get a look into the open space where the sounds of battle had come from.

Irma Pince lay on the floor next to her desk covered in blood. Her wand lay beside her open hand and a book lay at her feet. Suddenly she groaned softly. At the sound, Severus immediately left his hiding place and moved to her side; he gazed into each aisle as he passed it but neither saw nor heard any further sign of an intruder. Whoever had attacked the librarian appeared to have gone, but where could they have disappeared to? The door hadn't opened and he'd heard no crack of apparition.

Setting that puzzle aside for the moment, he knelt beside Irma. When he gently touched her shoulder, her eyes snapped open and fastened onto his. She raised a shaky hand and pointed toward the shadowy bookcases, then let it fall again. As he opened his mouth to speak to her, he saw the light leave her eyes. Her body shivered slightly then lay unnaturally still.

Stunned at this unexpected act of violence when he'd thought the worst was over, Severus took a deep breath and began to rise, but before he could get to his feet, the door to the library burst open and Kingsley Shacklebolt rushed inside followed closely by Minerva McGonagall and two tough looking Aurors whose names he didn't know. They stared at Irma's blood drenched corpse and, as one, trained their wands unwaveringly on Severus.

Kingsley snarled, "Drop your wand Snape and get up… nice and slow."

Severus sighed and did as he was told. How had everything gone so wrong so quickly?

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

Minerva watched in shock as Severus reached out a trembling hand and used Irma's desk to help himself to his feet. The man looked as if a stiff breeze would blow him over faster than a crumpled piece of paper. Could he really have attacked Irma? Why would he? She was surely no threat to him, certainly not if what Harry told Kingsley was true. Yet there he stood, covered in Irma's blood.

With a shake of her head, Minerva pushed past Kingsley and knelt beside her friend, but it was clear from the briefest of examinations that they were too late to help. Irma was dead. Considering how much death Minerva had seen in the last few hours, she was surprised that any death could still shock her, but this unexpected final loss shook her to the core. How could this have happened now, after the battle was supposedly won?

"Well? Is she dead?" Kingsley's voice intruded into her thoughts and Minerva gathered herself together, tore her gaze away from the still librarian and looked up at the frowning Auror.

"Yes... Yes, she's dead," she said quietly. Then she reached out and carefully closed Irma's eyes before turning her gaze to Severus who stood unsteadily, leaning against the desk and gazing down at Irma with dark eyes sunken into an ashen face.

Severus swallowed heavily and raised his eyes to meet hers unwaveringly. Then he declared in a ravaged, rasping voice, "I didn't kill her, Minerva. I swear I didn't."

A buzz of disbelieving mutters came from the Aurors who were backing up Kingsley, but no one called him a liar to his face, somewhat to Minerva's surprise. A few hours ago they wouldn't have paused for a moment to consider whether Severus was guilty of murder. They'd have shot him down and sorted it out later, if they bothered to wonder about it at all. But Harry's testimony of Severus's true allegiance had changed things. Here was clear evidence of that.

"Then who did, Snape?" asked Kingsley quite reasonably. "We heard her scream not more than a minute or two ago. We ran down the hall and burst in to find you crouched over her body, wand in hand. No one came out of the library before we came in. The entrance door was never out of our sight from the moment we heard the scream until we found you here bending over her body."

He glanced around the silent room. "There doesn't seem to be anyone else here. So I ask again, if you didn't kill her, who did?"

Severus shook his head. "I don't know. I was hiding back in the stacks when I heard someone come into the library. I don't know who it was, but they didn't appear to want to be found. Their movements were furtive and sly, and they didn't bring up any lights. This person hadn't been inside long before Irma came in and discovered them. I heard her cry out, then there was a crackle of magic followed by a couple of thumps, then nothing. I peered around a bookcase, saw no one but Irma and came to see if I could help her. She died almost as soon as I knelt down next to her. She didn't tell me what happened and although I heard it happen, I saw nothing."

He spread his hands in a vague gesture. "I can certainly attest to the fact that there are lots of places to hide in this library. Instead of standing here staring at me, might I suggest you search the room? Someone must be hiding here somewhere."

Kingsley nodded to his back-up who immediately spread out and began to search the cavernous chamber for an intruder.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Minerva watched the Aurors fan out and begin a search of the library, and Kingsley indicated he wanted to take Severus out into the hall and leave them to it. As soon as they stepped outside the door, three other Aurors came up to them. Kingsley sent two of them inside to help with the search, and set the other to watch over Severus as he pulled Minerva further down the hall so they could talk privately.

"What do you think?" he said as soon as he judged they were out of earshot.

The first words out of his mouth, though predictable, were unanswerable. Everything she thought she knew about Severus Snape had been turned upside down and then back around, and then upside down again. For years, she'd believed Severus to be her colleague and her friend, someone she didn't always see eye to eye with, but nevertheless, someone she could trust and depend on. Then had come that awful night when Albus was murdered.

It had taken quite awhile before she'd really come to believe that Severus had killed him. Oh, she'd accepted the facts as they'd been given to her, but the act of cold blooded murder was so foreign to what she'd always believed in her heart to be true of Severus that some deep part of her took a long time to truly accept it.

Yet the man had never denied doing it, not even when he'd returned to Hogwarts as Headmaster of the school, and slowly, over the course of the last year she'd gradually become used to thinking of him as a traitor and a murderer. She hadn't enjoyed thinking of him that way, but Severus himself seemed determined to project that unpleasant image to everyone around him. Despite not understanding why Severus would do the things he was accused of, since he seemed so hell bent on convincing everyone he was as nasty as they all said he was, in the end, there didn't seem to be any reason not to go along with it.

Still, his behaviour hadn't really made sense to her until Kingsley told her that Severus was acting on Albus's own orders, that he'd never given up his role as a spy but had merely taken it to a deeper level. Once she heard that, all the disparate pieces that made up the puzzle that was Severus Snape seemed to slot into place. Finally she felt she understood him again and was eager to find him, talk to him and offer up the apology she felt he deserved.

Then she'd seen him bent over Irma's lifeless body with her blood on his hands, and the pieces of the puzzle began to fall apart again. He'd looked her in the eyes and sworn he wasn't guilty, once she'd have believed him without question, but now, after so many twists and turns of truth, half truth and outright lies, she simply didn't know what to believe, and she figured she might as well admit it.

"I don't know. I came up here hoping I'd have a chance to apologise to Severus for misjudging him, but now I just don't know what to think."

Kingsley's face reflected his own troubled thoughts and he nodded in agreement. "I'll admit I don't know what to believe either. If Harry is right, and I see no reason he'd lie to protect Snape, then the man was on our side all along. Yet if that's true, why kill Irma? I can't believe she was a threat to him. He could disarm her with his eyes closed and one hand tied behind his back."

Minerva couldn't help but agree with that assessment. Irma was a skilled witch in her way, but she was no fighter. Certainly she wouldn't have been a match for someone of Severus's skill. He could easily have disarmed her and even obliviated her if need be. There was absolutely no reason for the man to kill her if Harry was right and he was still on their side. But was Harry right? He wasn't always; no one was. Having believed the opposite for so long now on the evidence of others, she found she was reluctant to condemn or exonerate Severus without knowing much more about what really happened in the library.

Kingsley frowned and interrupted her musing with a question. "There isn't any other way out of the library, is there? Something I don't know about?"

"No. This is the only way in or out. Irma always wanted it that way. She didn't want anyone to be able to sneak materials out of the library without going past her. Having only the one door made security much simpler."

Suddenly the door in question opened and one of the searchers came out and headed immediately to Kingsley's side. The young man spoke to his superior in a low tone, "We've searched the entire room, sir. There's no one else in there."

"You're sure?" asked Kingsley before Minerva could ask.

The Auror nodded, "We're sure. We did a full physical search, and we let a seeker spell check things out, too. There's no one in there but us."

Kingsley nodded. "Okay, you can go back to searching the castle for Death Eaters. Tell Carson and Anderson to return to the general search as well."

The young man nodded and left to carry out his orders.

Solemnly, Kingsley turned back to Minerva. "I guess that's it then. Snape must have done it."

Minerva shook her head. "It looks that way, but it still doesn't make any sense. What possible reason could he have for killing Irma?"

"I don't know, but I can't stop now to try to figure it out. I still have to search the rest of the castle for Death Eaters then we have to re-group and take on the job of cleaning out the Ministry itself. That's going to take time and manpower. I really don't have the resources to devote to investigating this murder right now."

"What do you intend to do with Severus then?" asked Minerva.

"Well, obviously I can't let him go. I'd intended to place him in a sort of protective custody when I found him, just so he wasn't inadvertently harmed by anyone who hadn't heard about Harry's evidence, and I suppose I can still do that. I certainly don't want to put him in with the other Death Eaters we've caught."

"No, if Harry's right and they know he betrayed them, we'd be signing the man's death warrant." She considered her options for a moment before making a suggestion. "Why don't you leave him here in my custody? We can turn one of the dungeon rooms into a comfortable holding cell for him. I'll get Poppy to examine him; he obviously needs medical attention. This way he'll be safe and cared for while we try to discover the truth of this situation. He can stay here until you have the time to investigate Irma's death properly."

Reluctantly Kingsley nodded. Minerva doubted that he wanted to relinquish control of Severus, but he had other things he had to do at the moment, and Kingsley had always been someone who had no trouble organizing his priorities. If Severus wasn't really a Death Eater then that automatically relegated him to a less important position right now, even if he had murdered an innocent woman.

Minerva shivered as she thought of poor Irma lying dead on the floor of her beloved library. If it turned out that Severus wasn't responsible, and Minerva found she didn't want to dismiss that possibility, then they would have to find out who was and quickly. With Kingsley and the other Aurors busy with the considerable task of cleaning up after the war that left the problem of Irma's death squarely in her lap. She wished she felt more confident of her ability to sort out the truth.

At that moment, a badly dishevelled Flitwick bustled up to them. "Is it true?" he asked breathlessly. "Sybill said she heard that it was all some terrible mistake and that Severus is on our side after all. I'd certainly like to believe it's true, but considering the source I felt, meaning no disrespect to Sybill of course, but she does tend to get things twisted around a bit, so I felt I'd better ask someone more likely to know the truth."

He glanced across the corridor to where Severus leaned wearily against the wall with what was obviously a guard standing next to him. "Though if it is true, why are you holding him prisoner? My goodness, the poor man looks exhausted. Couldn't you at least conjure him up a chair?"

"What you heard does appear to be true, Professor," said Kingsley. "We're holding Snape on a different matter, I'm afraid."

"A different matter! Good heavens, what could be more important than discovering that we'd all made such a grievous error? Really, Minerva, if you won't get the man a chair, then I..."

"Irma's dead, Filius," Minerva cut into her colleague's speech in the hopes of heading him off before he veered wildly off the point.

"Dead?" Flitwick drew his brows together in a puzzled frown. "But I'm sure I saw her talking to you after the battle was over. She hadn't escaped unscathed of course, but who amongst us has?"

"She wasn't killed during the battle. Kingsley and I were coming up the stairs when we heard her scream. We rushed into the library to find Severus crouched over her dead body."

"Oh, dear... You don't mean... Surely he wouldn't have... I mean, if he was on our side all along, why would he need to kill Irma? She couldn't have harmed him. Severus is much too strong and agile a fighter. Are you sure?"

Minerva sighed. "No, we aren't sure of anything, but until we find out what really happened, we have to keep Severus in custody."

"Oh, yes, of course you do. I quite see that," said Flitwick dazedly before falling silent; his sad gaze fixed on Severus.

"Filius, would you do me a favour?" asked Minerva.

"Of course, whatever you need!" The diminutive professor perked up immediately with the thought that he could be helpful.

"I need to take Severus downstairs and find a place for him to stay for the time being. Would you see that Irma's body gets taken down to the mortuary and that someone stays on guard at the library? We don't want anything disturbed in there until we have a chance to investigate this further."

Flitwick nodded, his eyes sad once more. "Of course, Minerva. You can depend on me."

Minerva dredged up a smile and squeezed his shoulder gratefully. "I know I can. Thank you."

When Flitwick nodded in response, Minerva and Kingsley left him to his task and headed across the corridor to re-claim their prisoner.

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

Remus continued his struggle to climb the staircase. He'd long since lost sight of Kingsley and Minerva and was beginning to despair of ever finding them again. Finally he just stopped and hovered in place. Why was he trying so hard to catch up to them? They didn't know where Severus was any more than he did. Sure they were going to search for him, but the man could be anywhere. He knew every inch of this castle backwards and forwards. If he didn't want to be found, then no one would find him once he'd had a chance to hide himself away.

On the other hand, Remus knew Hogwarts just as well, if not better. Because of all the survey work he'd done in preparation for creating the Marauder's Map, he knew every secret passageway and every hidey hole there was in this place, or, he corrected himself, at least, he knew most of them. He wasn't arrogant enough to assume they'd figured out all of the castle's secrets no matter what Sirius had believed at the time. Surely he'd have as much luck looking for Severus on his own as he would following along with Kingsley and Minerva; more probably because Severus would never hear him coming.

The implication of that final thought depressed him and he sagged into the railing. Even if he did find Severus, the former Headmaster wouldn't be able to see him any more than anyone else could. The only way Remus was going to find out what was really going on with Severus was if he happened to be there when the man was telling his story to someone else, which meant that going off on his own probably wasn't that good an idea after all.

He might as well keep trying to find Minerva and Kingsley and hope that they'd eventually lead him to Severus and that when they found him, he'd be willing to tell them what really happened so Remus could listen in. In the end, it was probably the best he could hope for; since it appeared that he'd never again have the chance to talk to Severus himself, a thought that saddened him even more.

Having come to the conclusion that he needed to just keep going, no matter how depressed his thoughts had made him, Remus straightened up and began to laboriously shift himself on up the staircase once more when suddenly he heard voices and footsteps coming down. As the footsteps reached the nearest bend in the stairs and began to descend straight towards him, he looked up to see Minerva, Kingsley and two Aurors he didn't know, escorting Severus down the stairs.

Severus looked awful. His usually immaculate clothes were dirty, torn and stained with blood; a grimy bandage covered a seeping wound on his neck. This evidence of injury was bad enough, but even more alarming was the aura of total exhaustion that he wore like a cloak around his shoulders. He walked slowly, supported by others. His eyes were downcast, his shoulders were slumped and there was a blankness to his features that frightened Remus.

The man walked in the middle of the group with an Auror on either side of him as if he was under arrest, but that didn't make sense if what Kingsley said earlier was the truth. Severus shouldn't be in custody, he should be walking freely with his head up. What on earth had happened? What had he missed by not being able to move fast enough to keep up with the others?

When the party came abreast of him and headed on down the stairs, Remus impulsively called out Severus's name. Suddenly, as if he'd heard Remus speak, Severus's head came up and he turned and looked straight at him. Not through him as everyone else did, but at him, as if could actually see him.

Remus gasped and repeated his former lover's name. "Severus?"

The party moved on down the stairs, clearly none of the rest of them had the slightest inkling that Remus was there, but Severus craned his neck to keep Remus in sight, and Remus thought he might have said his name in response, but by now they'd passed on down the staircase too far for him to be sure. One thing he wassure of, however, was that Severus _saw _him, and he had to find out why Severus could see him when no one else was able to.

Feeling more encouraged than at any time since he'd been blasted out of his body and begun floating around Hogwarts, Remus turned around and began the chore of descending the staircase that he'd just struggled up. Nothing mattered to him now except finding Severus once more and talking to him if possible. Though he didn't understand why, it seemed that Severus might hold the key to what had happened to Remus and with any luck he'd know if there was anything Remus could do to change it.

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

Severus followed Minerva and Kingsley down into the depths of the castle, trying not to lag and force his escort to pull him along. He was rapidly running out of stamina and really needed to sit down. He'd taken a single pain potion earlier, but he needed more. His body had been badly abused, and he hadn't given it enough time to recover or the proper healing spells and potions to make up for that fact.

Suddenly he was brought up short as everyone else stopped and he didn't notice immediately. He looked around and recognised his surroundings. This wing of the dungeon was near the kitchen. There were a few classrooms down here, but they hadn't been used in years, not since he'd been a student, in fact. Currently they stood in front of one of those empty rooms and Severus suddenly realised that they were probably going to turn it into a holding cell for him.

Fine. Let them lock him up. As long as they gave him somewhere to sit down for awhile and some peace and quiet so he could figure out what the hell had happened, and what, if anything, he could do about it, he wouldn't argue. At least, not yet.

Minerva unlocked the door, shoved it open, and they all trooped into the room. There were no windows, no room below ground level in this part of the castle had any, but there were several wall sconces that flared to life with a wave of Minerva's wand. They revealed a sparsely furnished room filmed with a thick layer of dust. There was a single table, two broken chairs and some odd bits of trash scattered about and that was all.

"Not exactly homey," Severus said quietly, surprising himself when the others turned to look at him and he realised he'd spoken aloud.

Minerva shook her head and gave him a slightly strained smile. "No, but it will do once I'm done with it."

Severus didn't doubt her. There was no one in the castle who was better at Transfiguration than Minerva. Making this place both liveable and cosy would be but the work of a moment for her. He hoped she'd start with a bed or at least a chair. He wasn't sure how much longer he could remain on his feet, and he didn't think falling on the stone floor when his legs gave out would do any good to his battered and exhausted body.

With a sweep of her wand the layer of dust was eradicated. With a second sweep, the table became a bed with a comfortable looking pillow and a warm green blanket. A third mended the chairs and stood them properly on sturdy legs once more. Then a stray piece of paper became a dark rug that felt soft under his weary feet, and another piece of paper became a large chamber pot with a lid. It was clear that he wasn't going to be allowed out for bathroom breaks, and Minerva was nothing if not practical.

Minerva turned to him, and as he looked back at her he suddenly realised that she looked every bit as tired as he felt. "You'll be safe here and as comfortable as possible under the circumstances, Severus," she said. "I'll send Poppy down to tend to your injuries as soon as she can be spared from her work upstairs."

He nodded. There was no point in arguing. They were determined to keep him here and there was nothing he could do about it. Indeed, they could have done much worse to him. Killed him where they found him perhaps, or even put him in whatever cell they'd set up for any of his former cohorts who had managed to survive the end of the battle and the death of their lord and master. Yes, things could be worse, not much, but some.

As Kingsley and Minerva turned to leave the room, he tried once more to plead his case, knowing full well to which of them he should direct his plea.

"I didn't kill Irma, Minerva. I don't know who did, but I promise you it wasn't me."

With her hand on the door knob, Minerva turned back to look at him, and he could see a world of uncertainty in her tired eyes. She opened her mouth, but hesitated to speak as if she simply wasn't sure what to say to him. In the end she chose to ignore his statement and simply said, "I'll hurry Poppy along as quickly as I can."

Then the door closed behind them all and he was left alone with his thoughts.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

When Remus finally reached the dungeon level of the castle, he paused at the foot of the staircase and tried to figure out which way to turn. From the direction the group surrounding Severus had taken when they'd crossed the entrance hall, he was pretty sure they'd gone through the door that would take them to the kitchens and the Hufflepuff dormitory instead of the door that would have led to the Slytherin domain, but all was silent now that he'd finally reached the stairway's end. The corridor stretched off in two directions. Which one would make the most sense to try first?

He couldn't see any reason why they would head for either the kitchen itself or the Hufflepuff dormitory, but there wasn't much else down here. There were some storage rooms and the laundry and there were also some old classrooms that hadn't been used for years. If they were looking for a place to hold Severus for awhile, that might be what they were heading for. He'd certainly looked like a prisoner, though Remus still couldn't figure out why he should be unless what Kingsley had said turned out to be a lie after all.

Remus dismissed that thought impatiently. Now that he'd come to believe in Severus's innocence again, he didn't like the idea of returning to thinking badly of him. He'd never wanted to think badly of Severus in the first place. Circumstances, overwhelming evidence and public opinion, not to mention Severus's own actions, had pushed him to accept that what everyone else said was true, but he'd never felt right about it in his heart and now that he'd been offered a chance at another explanation, he clung to it like a life preserver tossed to a drowning man.

Regardless of why they'd brought Severus down here, the classrooms seemed a better choice than the kitchen to try first, so he turned in that direction and began to push himself along. He'd finally hit on a method of propulsion that looked a lot like he was doing the dog paddle in a shallow pool. He knew it looked incredibly silly, but it seemed to work and since no one could see him anyway, what difference did it make how it looked? Who'd know?

He glided along one corridor and then into another. Finally he came to the section of the dungeon that housed the abandoned classrooms. When he rounded the first corner, he saw Minerva, Kingsley and the two Aurors standing in front of a doorway a few feet further down the hall. There was no sign of Severus so Remus assumed he must be inside the room. Kingsley was placing wards on the door. He could see the bluish flare of the spells as they crisscrossed each other, knitting themselves together and settling into place over the door and the surrounding walls.

Remus decided to wait until they finished before approaching the room. So he hovered in the corner of the passageway and lurked. Finally Kingsley seemed satisfied with his work. He stepped back and lowered his wand.

"That should hold him," Kingsley said with satisfaction. Then he turned to one of the other Aurors. "Anders, remain on guard down here. I'll send someone to relieve you as soon as I can. Poppy Pomfrey is to be allowed in when she comes down to treat the prisoner."

The Auror snapped to attention and took up a position to one side of the door. "Yes, sir."

Minerva sighed. "Do you really think a guard is necessary, Kingsley? You've already warded the door more thoroughly than a Gringotts vault. Severus is unarmed and utterly exhausted. He's not going anywhere."

The two of them headed down the corridor toward Remus with the other Auror in their wake. "You're probably right, Minerva, but I can't afford to take the chance that Snape might somehow find a way to escape. You know as well as I do how clever he is. It won't hurt to leave Anders on guard for now, though I'll probably have to take him with me when we head to the Ministry. I'll need all the people I can get for that."

"We could try Veritaserum on him," suggested Minerva. "I imagine that Severus has some in his storeroom. That should tell us whether or not he's lying."

Kingsley nodded. "It would, but I'm not sure I'd trust anything out of Snape's own stores. He was a spy in deep cover. If something happened and he was forced to take his own potion, don't you think he might have added something that would allow him to banish the effect?"

"Is such a thing possible?" asked Minerva.

"We've had people at the Ministry working on a way to do it for years. They haven't managed it yet, but we both know if anyone could figure it out, it's Snape. Veritaserum is a good idea, but I think it'll have to wait until I can get hold of some that wasn't brewed by Severus Snape. I can't just get it out of Ministry stores at the moment, either. Finding an independent source for the stuff will take a bit of time, and I can't spare it right now."

"All right. I'll go and see Poppy then head back up to the library to see if I can discover anything else," said Minerva as they turned the corner where Remus stood watching them and began to head away from him.

"That sounds fine," said Kingsley. "I need to get back to searching the castle."

As their footsteps and voices faded away, Remus began to push himself down the corridor until he stood in front of the door to the room that had been turned into a holding cell for Severus. He smiled at the guard, who ignored him and continued to stare blankly at the wall in front of his face, obviously bored.

"Don't mind me, I'm just passing through," Remus muttered as he pushed himself toward the door. When he slipped through the wards that surrounded the room, he felt a tingling sensation that flowed across his whole body and moving suddenly seemed to get a bit easier. He popped through the door more forcefully than he'd expected and floated out into the room.

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

The temporary infirmary was a buzzing hive of activity when Minerva stepped inside and looked around for Poppy. So many people were coming and going that it took her a moment to locate the mediwitch in a far corner putting a bandage on the brow of Pomona Sprout. Suddenly concerned, Minerva hurried over to join them, hoping that whatever Poppy was treating her friend for, it wasn't serious.

"Pomona, what happened? Are you all right?" she asked as she came abreast of the two women.

Pomona grimaced and slid her fingers gingerly along the length of the freshly applied bandage. "Don't worry, I'm fine, Minerva. I just didn't duck fast enough. I think I'm too old for this sort of thing. I could have lost my head instead of just my hat." The Herbology professor looked more annoyed than anything else, which did much to relieve Minerva's anxiety.

"I'm glad you're all right. I'm sure your hat can be replaced," she said with a smile.

Pomona smiled back. "Oh, I know, but I really liked that hat. Things would have been worse if I hadn't used the spongiform vines as improvised armour. They deflected quite a few shots that would have done a lot more than put a dent in my forehead. Poor things, I hope they didn't get too battered." She plucked gently at a woven network of dark green vines that covered her torso and were entwined in her iron grey hair.

Minerva peered curiously at the odd foliage clinging to her friend. "Are those plants alive?"

"Oh, yes. Well, at least they were when all this started, and I imagine there's still enough left of them to salvage. They're practically impregnable. I figured they'd give me more protection than anything else I could cobble together at the last moment, so when I went to try to protect the greenhouse, I let them wind themselves around me. It was an experiment that worked pretty well, if I do say so myself." Pomona smiled and caressed a leafy portion of vine that had draped itself over her left shoulder.

Poppy, who'd been washing her hands at a hovering basin, turned back to Pomona with a smile. "I think the plants did an admirable job acting as a living shield. Other than the cut on your forehead, all you suffered were some strained muscles and a few bruises. You were very fortunate."

Pomona looked around at all the injured people filling the room and nodded solemnly. "Yes. I know." Then she re-directed her sober gaze at Minerva. "I hear that Irma wasn't as fortunate. Is it true? Did Severus really kill her?"

Minerva bit back a sigh. It seemed that not even a major battle could mar the efficiency of the Hogwarts' rumour mill. "I'm afraid it's true that Irma is dead, yes. As for whether Severus killed her; we aren't sure yet."

"I heard that Severus was really on our side all along, that he was acting on Albus's orders and had remained in deep cover, simply pretending to work for You-Know-Who-May-He-Rot-Forever. Any truth to that rumour, Minerva," asked Poppy.

"Yes, that seems to be true. Kingsley heard it from Harry himself who was given some of Severus's memories."

Pomona frowned, turning her gaze from one woman to the other. "Well, if that's true, why would Severus kill Irma? Sounds as if he had more to lose than gain by something like that."

Minerva nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, I must admit it doesn't make any sense to me, either. We're still trying to figure things out. For now, Severus is being held in the old Arithmancy classroom downstairs near the kitchens. I came in here to ask if you'd go down and take a look at him, Poppy. He needs medical attention."

Poppy assessed the level of activity in the room and nodded. "Things have settled down here for the moment, I should be able to spare some time to go down and treat him. What's wrong with him?"

"I'm not sure. He has some sort of wound on his throat that he's covered with a dressing, but I think it needs more treatment. The dressing was bloody and seeping. If he has other wounds they weren't immediately visible. He's clearly exhausted though."

"All right. I'll fetch a few things and go see if I can help him just as soon as I can get away."

"There's a guard at the door, but he'll let you in."

Poppy nodded, then with a stern admonishment for Pomona to rest, she went to gather what she needed to treat the next patient.

Pomona got to her feet and Minerva asked, "Should you be getting up?"

"It's all right," said Pomona with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I really am fine, and I need to go re-pot this plant before there's nothing left to re-pot which would be a pretty poor way to repay it for saving my life. Do you have any suspects for Irma's murder other than Severus?"

Minerva shook her head and the two of them headed for the door. "Unfortunately, no. A search of the library didn't turn up anyone other than Severus at the scene, though he swears he didn't do it."

"Hmmm... do you believe him?" asked Pomona curiously.

"I don't know. I'd like to."

"Me, too," said Pomona, "But he hasn't made it easy to believe in him with his recent actions."

"No, he hasn't," agreed Minerva grimly.

"Well, good luck to you in figuring it out. I was hoping that with the end of that monster, things could finally start to get back to normal around here, but if Severus isn't guilty, then that means there's a murderer among us. That's not exactly an encouraging thought." Pomona shook her head sadly. "Poor Irma. Just when you thought the worst was over..."

They stood together in silence for a moment, then with a weary smile Pomona headed off for her greenhouse, and Minerva began to climb the stairs again.

When she entered the library, she was relieved to see that Irma's body had been taken away. A large bloodstain marred the Persian rug by the librarian's desk, and Minerva had a feeling that the image of that blood stained carpet would remain with her long after the stain itself had been removed.

A book lay near the stain on the floor and Minerva bent automatically and picked it up, setting it carefully on Irma's desk as the librarian would no doubt wish. She looked up as Filius called her name.

"Minerva!"

The small man bustled up to her from somewhere deeper in the room. "Filius, thank you for having Irma's body taken downstairs."

"It was no trouble. Poor Irma could hardly be left here, though I suppose there's a part of her that will always remain in this place. I can't imagine anyone else running things here, but I guess someone else will have to be hired before next year."

Minerva didn't even want to think about having to hire a new employee when they were still in the throes of caring for and burying members of their current staff. "Someone else will have to be hired eventually, but that's not something we need to worry about now. Have you been looking around in here?"

"Yes," Flitwick nodded eagerly. "I've stayed near the library and kept everyone else out since you and Mr. Shacklebolt took poor Severus downstairs. I've poked around as much as I could, and I released a few seeker spells of my own, too, not that I don't trust the Aurors to be thorough, but it never hurts to see what's what for yourself, I always say. I didn't find anything, though. As far as I can determine, there's no one here but us."

They walked toward the door and paused just inside it. Minerva looked back into the huge, quiet room and frowned. "We're missing something, Filius. I don't know what, but we are."

"You don't believe that Severus killed her then."

"I don't want to. It just doesn't make any sense."

"I heard a couple of the Aurors talking. They tested Severus's wand. The last spell he cast was a severing charm or slicing hex. The two are practically indistinguishable in a standard test and can create virtually identical wounds as well. Apparently that's the spell that was used to slice open Irma's throat."

"A slicing hex is a very popular spell in a nasty fight, Filius. You know as well as I do that if we tested all the wands used in battle today, half of them at the very least would have that spell on them."

"I agree, it's circumstantial, but it's still damning especially with you and Kingsley swearing that you didn't see anyone leave the library after you heard Irma scream and with all of the searchers coming up empty handed. It doesn't look good for Severus."

"I know. I just can't get passed the fact that Irma was no threat to Severus. If what Harry told Kingsley is true. There's just no reason for Severus to have killed her."

Filius looked troubled. "Perhaps Harry was wrong."

Minerva looked around the dim library with a dismayed expression on her face. She didn't want to believe that Harry was wrong. She wanted to believe that Severus was on their side all along. She wanted to find another explanation for Irma's murder, but it didn't really matter what she wanted. If Harry was wrong, and Severus was a traitor and a murderer, she'd just have to accept it.

With a sigh, she pushed the library door open. "We'll just have to see how it all plays I out I suppose. Would you arrange for a guard to watch the library? I'd like things to remain undisturbed for now."

"Of course, Minerva, whatever you want."

The door closed behind them leaving the large room awash in silent shadows.

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

As the door closed behind McGonagall and Shacklebolt, Severus collapsed onto the bed like an unstrung puppet. Rubbing his hands wearily across his face and through his hair, he stared bleakly at the stone walls of his cell. Despite all his careful planning, once more he was a prisoner and the odds against him this time looked pretty high.

How the hell had that happened anyway? By now he should have safely been in hiding eagerly anticipating the time when he could emerge as a hero. He'd fully expected to rub the collective noses of the Order in the sweetness of his innocence, collect his Order of Merlin, First-bloody-Class, thumb his nose at the wizarding world in general and take off for places unknown to live the life of freedom he'd been dreaming of for years. It should have worked out. He was so close he could taste it.

Instead, here he was, tossed into a cell, accused of something he damn well didn't do, and completely at a loss as to how to prove it to a very suspicious and unsympathetic world.

Closing his eyes, he leaned wearily back against the wall. Every beat of his heart caused his throat to throb, and he lightly pressed his fingers against the bandage that covered his wound. It felt damp. All this activity had started him bleeding again, and he was unable to stop it without his wand. Could things possibly get any worse?

Lupin's anxious face as it had looked on the staircase as he'd passed by flashed into the forefront of his mind. Yes, damn it. It could always get worse. He shoved the image and all the unwelcome feelings it engendered away and began to rub his temples. Maybe all this was nothing but a bad dream, and he was still lying unconscious on the floor of the Shrieking Shack? Maybe he'd awaken soon and things would go the way he'd planned for once. He snorted and shook his head weakly. Maybe he should stop hoping for a miracle and just accept that as usual, life and fate had screwed him over. Why he ever thought that would change once Voldemort no longer existed, he'd never know.

"Hello, Severus," said a quiet, oddly muffled sounding voice.

Startled, Severus opened his eyes to see Remus Lupin standing inside the cell door staring at him intently. He sighed. As relieved as he'd been to spot Remus standing alive and unbloodied amongst his accusers, the very last thing he needed at the moment was to argue with his former lover. His very, married, former lover. He certainly couldn't afford to forget that painful little fact, now could he?

"How did you get in here?" he rasped, trying to remember hearing the door open again and failing.

"Through the door," Remus said in that odd, ethereal tone.

Severus shook his head. "Nonsense. I'd have heard the door open."

A sad smile caught at the edge of Remus's lips. "Who said anything about the door opening?"

Severus frowned. "How else could…" His voice trailed away and he felt an icy shiver slice through him as the implication of that statement made itself understood.

"Oh, I see," he murmured softly. He swallowed hard to dislodge the cold lump that had suddenly buried itself in the side of his throat. Annoyed that he should still care what happened to Remus when their relationship had been over for so long, he abruptly rose to his feet, ignoring the wave of dizziness that hit him with his sudden movement, and paced unsteadily across the room. He placed a hand on the wall to support himself before turning back to sneer at his unwanted visitor as best he could.

"So you're here to haunt me? Is that it?" Severus asked accusingly, deeply frustrated at how weak and ragged his voice sounded to his ears.

Remus shook his head and shrugged. "No, of course not. I mean, I certainly don't want to haunt you. To haunt you I'd have to be dead, and I honestly don't know whether I am or not. I came to see you because upstairs it seemed to me that you could see me, and since you're the only person who apparently _can_ see me, it seemed logical to try to talk to you."

Severus narrowed his eyes and considered Remus thoughtfully. "No one can see you but me?"

"Apparently not. I've been trying to attract other people's attention for hours now and nothing I do makes the slightest difference. No one can hear me, or see me, or touch me as far as I can tell."

"Sounds like you're a ghost to me." A deeper gloom settled on Severus's shoulders. He might not want to care about Remus, but he couldn't deny the fact that he still did... as much as he ever had.

"Maybe, but it's always been my understanding that when you die you're given a choice as to whether to stay and hang around as a ghost or move on to whatever comes next. Certainly no one has shown up to ask me if I want to drift around here for eternity, because, if they had, I can assure you that my answer would have been no. Besides, ghosts can be seen by others if they want to, can't they? I certainly never had trouble seeing any of the Hogwarts' ghosts, but apparently no one can see me but you no matter what I do."

"Perhaps you just haven't figured out how to make yourself visible to others yet?" suggested Severus.

"Why should there be a trick to it? And why should I be visible to you but not to anyone else? Obviously you can see me or we wouldn't be having this conversation, but just now as I passed Minerva and Kingsley in the corridor, they just as clearly had no idea I was there at all."

Severus considered that. When he'd spoken Lupin's name, Shacklebolt had looked at him strangely, but things were moving so fast, that it hadn't really registered at the time. Maybe something else _was_ going on with Lupin. He felt a faint surge of hope which he squashed impatiently. Dead, not dead… what difference did it make to him? Viciously he stifled the little voice that tried to tell him why it should matter. The past was over and done with, and he had other much more pressing concerns of his own right now.

"Well, good luck figuring it out. I have other things to worry about, and if you don't mind, I'd really rather do it alone," said Severus as he paced back to his bed and sat heavily down on it. He waved a negligent hand at Remus. "Go float around somewhere else."

Remus looked at Severus for a moment then let himself drift a bit closer. "Maybe I can help."

Severus snorted. "Oh, yes, I'm sure the invisible man will be of immense value in defending me against my accusers."

Remus continued, "Well, you never know, and it's not as if I have anything else to do right now. Though I don't really understand why you need defending. I heard Minerva and Kingsley talking. They said you'd been vindicated, that you'd been acting for our side all along, that Harry had proof. If that's true, then why have they tossed you in here?"

Severus began to laugh, pressing his hand against his throat as the laughter turned to a wracking cough and caused it to throb with fresh pain. Remus came closer and hovered next to Severus looking as if he'd like to help but couldn't figure out how.

"Are you all right?" he asked anxiously when Severus finally quieted.

Severus nodded and took a ragged breath before continuing.

"Did you really miss the little scene in the library?" he whispered harshly, now that he'd regained some control.

"I'm still having difficulty moving around. I was trying to follow Minerva and Kingsley but it took me so long to get up the stairs that I lost sight of them. I didn't see them again until you all came down together. What happened in the library?"

"Irma Pince was murdered," said Severus grimly.

"What?" exclaimed Remus in a shocked tone. "You mean she was killed during the battle."

"No. Afterwards. I heard it happen, but I didn't see it. I was hiding in the back of the room, trying not to be seen by anyone until I could find a safe place to recover. There were so many people in the castle that I took temporary refuge in the library to avoid them. I heard someone come in and move around. Then I heard Irma come in. She shouted something, someone fired a hex, there was a thump or two, then everything went quiet. I peered around a bookcase and spotted Irma lying on the floor by her desk. No one else seemed to be there so I went to see how badly she was hurt."

"And?"

"There was nothing I could do for her. She died almost as soon as I reached her side. Then, before I could make another move, Minerva, Shacklebolt and several of his loyal thugs burst in and accused me of killing her. Naturally I protested my innocence, but to my utter shock, they refused to believe me." Bitterness tinged Severus's voice. "They dragged me out of there, forced me down to the dungeons and threw me in here to cool my heels while they decide what to do with me."

"Did you hear anyone leave the library after Irma was killed?" asked Remus.

"No. The door never opened."

Remus brightened slightly. "Then whoever did it must have been hiding just as you were."

"They searched and found no one," said Severus with a frown.

"That doesn't prove anything. I made a thorough search of the library back when we were in school, checking for hidden hiding places, secret cupboards or passages, and there weren't any, but that room is so full of nooks and crannies that hiding out in there is pretty easy even without them. You just have to move as the searchers move. A diagramming spell can easily keep you ahead of one or two searchers.

"Surely they'll bring in a few more people and search the scene of the crime more thoroughly even if they believe you to be guilty. Whoever killed Irma has to be hiding there somewhere. They've probably found the real killer by now, and you'll be released soon."

A faint hope kindled in Severus's breast as he stared at Remus. "I suppose that's possible."

"Of course it is," Remus smiled encouragingly and extended a hand. When Remus's fingers swept down through Severus's shoulder, a creepy sort of tingle ran down the man's arm and he winced and pulled away.

Remus gasped. "You felt that? You felt me touch you?"

Severus rubbed his arm and shivered. "Yes, damn it, I did, and it was very unpleasant. Don't do it again."

"But Severus! You're the first person I've been able to touch since whatever happened to me, happened. Please…"

As Remus reached out again, Severus pulled away. "I don't care. Once was enough."

Remus bent and set his hand on the bed, it sank through it. He tried the wall, but his fingers simply sank into the stone. He sighed in frustration. "I still can't touch anything solid."

"Well, you didn't really touch me either, your fingers passed right through me, but I certainly felt you try." Severus shivered again.

"But don't you see? No one else has been able to feel me touch them at all. I've been walking right through people for hours and they've never noticed. I don't understand this. Why can you see me and talk to me when no one else can? Why you?"

"I have no idea," said Severus, though the faintest glimmer of a thought began to nag at the back of his mind, and he found himself trying unsuccessfully to push it away. As Lupin stood there looking confused and dejected, Severus finally gave in and asked, "What happened to you on the battlefield?"

"I'm not sure. I was hit from behind."

"What colour was the flash of magic? Was it the killing curse?"

Remus hesitated. "I… don't know. I don't remember. I'd just seen Dora get hit. The flash that surrounded her was definitely green."

A strange feeling swept through Severus at hearing that Remus's wife was dead, but he shoved his feelings away and continued to listen, trying to stay objective.

"I tried to get to her, but suddenly I was on the ground. The next thing I remember, I was floating around. Some force drew me to Harry as if I was on a tether. I couldn't resist it. James and Lily and Sirius were there. I assumed since they could see me and I could see them that I was dead. We talked. Harry had something in his hand that seemed to be holding us together. When he let us go, everyone else just disappeared. I tried to follow them, but I couldn't. I tried to talk to Harry again, but he ignored me.

"I drifted back out onto the grounds. I saw others fall, but I couldn't do anything. No one paid any attention to me."

"Did you see your body?"

"Not then. Not until later. It's lying upstairs in one of the classrooms with far too many others." Remus frowned. "That was another odd thing. When I did find my body, I tried to touch it, but I couldn't."

Severus snorted. "You've just been telling me that you can't touch anything, why would you expect to be able to touch your body?"

"No, this was different. My hand didn't pass through it; it was stopped somehow, as if there was some sort of barrier around it. It was quite solid."

Severus nodded. It seemed his guess was correct for all the good it might do. "Ah, I see. That's interesting."

"Does it mean anything to you?" asked Remus.

"Yes, it does actually, and it should mean something to you, too. It sounds as if you were hit with a separation hex."

Remus looked as if he'd been slapped; obviously he was familiar with the implications of a separation hex. "Damn," he said softly. "Then I guess I really am dead."

"You give up too easily, Lupin!" Severus paused and said more quietly, "You always did."

"If you're implying that I gave up on you too easily, I could say the same for you just as accurately," snapped Remus sharply. "I wasn't the one who insisted on ending our relationship. That was all your idea. As for this… I do remember the separation hex now that you mention it. I also remember that the re-joining ritual to set things right is ridiculously complicated and must be performed within a relatively short period of time by someone with an emotional connection to the person who's been separated from his body. Under the circumstances, getting such a ritual performed seems… _unlikely_ at best."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

"Finding anyone who cares about you enough to perform the re-joining ritual now that your wife is dead, is indeed unlikely, you're no doubt right about that," snapped Severus waspishly.

Although Remus had thought he was beyond being hurt by Severus, the pain he felt at hearing the man's cold, dismissive tone proved he was wrong. Perhaps he'd never really be beyond it. No matter how hard he tried he could never quite get Severus out of his heart, though it certainly appeared as if Severus had not had a similar difficulty where he was concerned.

"Even if Dora was still alive, I don't think she'd have been successful at performing a re-joining ritual for me," said Remus sadly. "Without the ritual, I can't return to my body. It won't remain intact long without my spirit inhabiting it. Once it begins to break down, the link will be permanently severed, and I suppose I'll finally get to make that choice I've been wondering about. I really don't think I'm giving up too easily. I'm simply accepting the reality of the situation I find myself in."

As he looked at Remus, Severus's momentary fit of pique seemed to drain away and he sighed and rubbed at his temple wearily. "Why do you say your wife wouldn't have been successful at performing the ritual?" he asked.

Remus shrugged and let himself drift away from Severus's side. "We didn't have that sort of relationship." Remus admitted.

"I don't understand." Severus stared at Remus with a puzzled frown on his face.

"No reason you would. You know, when you broke things off with me I was devastated. You meant everything to me. I couldn't imagine my life without you in it."

"Clearly you got over that, or you wouldn't have married... _Nymphadora._" The sarcastic edge was back in Severus's voice.

Remus smiled faintly. "She really hated that name."

Then the smile fell away and he continued in a soft empty tone. "You're wrong to think I ever got over you, Severus. I got better at hiding my feelings, but I never was able to shed them completely, though I certainly tried. At first I told myself you hadn't really meant any of the awful things you said to me, that you were just trying to be noble, that you sacrificed our relationship to keep us both safe.

"After all, a wartime relationship when one of the people involved is working undercover isn't exactly ideal. That made sense to me, and I comforted myself with that thought for a long time. I was willing to wait until the war was over before approaching you again, but I certainly didn't intend to leave things the way we did when we parted. Then you killed Albus... and I'm ashamed to admit that I allowed myself to doubt."

Severus winced but he remained silent so Remus kept talking. "Dora and I were often paired up on assignments for the Order. She kept saying that we should get together, but I continually put her off. I didn't feel that way about her and I didn't want to hurt her. I valued her friendship, though and her sympathetic companionship helped a lot during that painful time.

"What I didn't realize then was that she was going through a painful time of her own... with her own lost love. Anyway after Albus died, the pressure to hook up with her intensified. We both got drunk one night and woke up together. After that I didn't see any reason to go on fighting it. When she told me she was pregnant, I went ahead and married her. It seemed the right thing to do, and I no longer had any reason to put her off.

"I imagine that if we'd both survived the war, we'd have split up eventually. She didn't really love me any more than I loved her. Her heart still belonged to Bill Weasley, just as mine belongs to you."

He paused for a moment before adding, "She wasn't even supposed to be at the battle. We'd agreed that when the time came, she'd stay home with Teddy, but Dora was always headstrong and impulsive. In the end, she couldn't bear to stay behind... and so she died."

Remus bowed his head in sorrow and a heavy silence spread out and filled the room. Finally Severus stirred and said softly, "You were right, you know."

"About what?" Remus raised his head and looked at Severus curiously.

"That I ended our relationship to keep you safe. If I ever made a mistake... If they'd ever discovered where my true loyalties lay, I knew they wouldn't have been satisfied with just killing me. They'd have gone after anyone I cared about. That meant that no one in the Dark Lord's camp could ever suspect that we had a connection, other than that of long time adversaries."

Remus smiled sadly. "It worked."

Severus met his eyes and smiled grimly in return. "Yes, it did."

"Severus, I'm sorry I ever doubted you. Please forgive me."

Severus spread his hands and shook his head. "There's nothing to forgive. You did what I needed you to do. It's my own fault if watching you do it was harder than I thought it would be."

Remus wanted so badly to go to Severus and fold him into his embrace, but that wasn't possible, would likely never be possible again. At least they'd managed to clear the air, part on good terms, and maybe, with whatever time he had left, he could do something to help. Perhaps that might go a small way toward making up for his lack of faith.

"Why don't I go back upstairs and see what I can find out. No one can see me, so I might be able to overhear something that could help you. I'll poke around; maybe go search the library myself. I'll let you know what, if anything, I find, all right?"

"I'd appreciate that."

"Okay." Remus nodded and moved toward the door, just as he was about to go through it, Severus's voice turned him back.

"Don't give up hope yet, Remus. There may still be something else we can do to make things right for you."

Remus smiled. "Thanks but I don't know what that might be. Once the time for the ritual has passed, and it probably has by now, it'll be too late for me. It's not too late for you, though, so don't give up. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Provided no one pops up to offer me that choice I've been expecting, he thought soberly, fervently hoping that he wouldn't really die until he could do something to help Severus. Once the man was free to live the life he deserved, he could go to his final rest with a lighter heart.

Then Remus walked back through the door, leaving Severus alone in his cell.

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

"Hello, Severus, I hear you've managed to get yourself injured once again."

Severus turned away from his thoughtful contemplation of the ceiling and began to sit up as Poppy entered the room, carefully closing the door behind her.

"What is it this time?" she asked as she came closer and sat down beside him as he swung his legs around and off the bed, pushing his body back so he could rest against the wall. She brought her wand up and began to run a series of quick diagnostic scans as she nodded toward the dressing on his throat. "Did someone try to cut your throat for you?"

"Nothing so mundane, I'm afraid," he replied and saw her frown as she listened to the rasp of his voice. "I was bitten by a bloody great snake."

Poppy shuddered. "I saw that horrible thing slithering around the grounds during the battle. I was rather pleased to see Neville dispatch it."

Severus looked surprised. "Longbottom killed Nagini?"

Poppy nodded. "Cut its head clean off. You underestimated that young man."

Severus shook his head as Poppy put her wand down and reached for the bandage. "No. I'll admit I did once, but his "activities" this past year showed me a rather different side of him than I'd ever seen in my classroom. I'm just surprised that any one person was able to destroy Nagini. She was a formidable opponent."

Poppy removed the dressing carefully and gently touched the skin of Severus's throat to either side of the barely healed wound. "She certainly made a mess of your neck. I assume you took some antivenin."

He nodded trying not to wince at her gentle probing. His neck was beginning to throb more painfully. "Yes, I'd concocted some with her in mind. I hid it in a hollow tooth that I fashioned to be larger on the inside than on the outside. I figured that if I had need of it, I probably wasn't going to have the time to fish a vial out of my robe and swallow it."

"No, probably not. You're lucky she didn't take your entire head off. Even so her fangs made a mess of your neck. Are you in much pain?"

"Some," he admitted reluctantly. "I took a dose of pain relieving potion shortly after the attack, but the effects are beginning to fade."

"They don't last forever. Open your mouth; I want to look down your throat."

He did as she asked and when she finished her examination she sat back in thoughtful silence for a moment before speaking to him again. "Taking the antivenin by mouth may have contributed to the damage your vocal chords have suffered, but I don't suppose it could be helped. I can repair some of it, but time will have to take care of the rest, and your speaking voice may never be quite the same as it was before."

He nodded. He didn't expect miracles. He was alive, that was well worth the loss of a bit of vocal flexibility. She rummaged around in the small satchel she brought with her, extracted two vials, and handed them to him. As he accepted them, he recognized his own handwriting on the label of a blood replenishing potion.

"You're still pretty anaemic. I think a replenishing potion is in order. The second vial is a pain potion. Take them now. When you finish, I'll see if I can't do a slightly better job of healing this gash than you did. I'm afraid you'll have a scar no matter what I can do though."

He upended one vial, then the next, and swallowed them both down. He could feel the effects of the pain reliever almost immediately and sighed with relief. "I really don't care whether I end up with a scar or not as long as I can use my throat."

She tilted his head to the side and began making the proper passes with her wand to knit the wounds edges together into a smooth seam. "Oh, you'll be able to use it just fine. Don't worry about that." They were silent for a time while Poppy worked on his neck. When she was almost finished, she cast a quick glance at his face then swiftly back at her work.

"I've heard quite a few different stories about you in the past few hours, any of them true?"

He snorted softly and shot her an amused glance while being careful not to move his head too much while she was still working on his throat.

"Depends on the story, I suppose."

"Well, I heard that you weren't really a Death Eater but were only pretending."

"True," he said shortly.

"That you became a spy on Albus's command."

"Mostly true. I did make the initial offer myself, he just took me up on it."

"That Albus actually ordered you to kill him."

"Also true..."

Poppy released Severus's head and stared at him. "Why on earth would Albus ask you to kill him? And why would you agree?"

Severus met her eyes unflinchingly. "Because neither of us had any choice in the matter. Albus was dying and my back was to the wall."

"Rubbish! I'd have known if..."

"Would you?" Severus cut her off. "When did Albus let you examine him during the last year of his life?"

Poppy hesitated.

"You saw his hand," Severus stated flatly. "Did he ever let you look at it closely?"

Slowly she shook her head. "No. I tried to, but he always put me off with some excuse."

"Albus had a very nasty curse rebound on him; the damage to his hand was a visible effect, but not the only effect. He knew he was dying. He wanted to use his death to further cement my place within the Dark Lord's inner circle. As you can imagine there isn't a tremendous amount of trust there, but I had a job to do and he wanted to do everything in his power to help me do it. I didn't want to kill him. We argued about it many times, but in the end, things played out pretty much the way he intended."

Emotions flitted across Poppy's face too fast for Severus to identify them, but after a brief silence, she finally nodded. "Albus always felt he knew best," she admitted. "Of course, most of the time he did."

"I certainly won't argue that point," said Severus simply.

Poppy rummaged around in her bag for a fresh dressing to put over his now cleaned and carefully healed wound. "You'll need to keep this dressing on for about 24 hours to protect your throat while the healing magic has a chance to penetrate down through all the layers of tissue and knit them together. After that, it's probably best to expose it to the air. It'll finish healing faster."

He nodded and once she'd applied the dressing he touched it gingerly and watched as she packed everything back into her bag and stood up to go.

"Isn't there one more story you want me to verify?" asked Severus.

Poppy looked troubled. "There is but I admit I'm reluctant to ask."

"I didn't kill Irma," said Severus calmly.

"I hope you didn't," she exclaimed. "I can't imagine a reason why you would, but then I couldn't imagine why you'd kill Albus either, yet it turned out there was a reason and, according to you, a good one. So I have to wonder what I'm not seeing now."

Frustration suddenly bubbled up inside him like a hot spring, and he clenched his hands into fists. Even though they all believed that there was no reason why he should kill Irma, no one but Remus seemed willing to take it that extra step and accept his innocence. How could he possibly fight this? Was his past to be held against him forever? Stupid question... of course it was.

In a burst of anger, he brought his fists down hard on his thighs. "Damn it, Poppy! What happened with Irma is nothing like what happened with Albus. I didn't kill the woman! I had no reason to kill her!"

Severus's harsh declaration hung in the air between them for a moment, then Poppy whirled around without saying anything more and left the room, closing the door firmly behind her.

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

Minerva saw Poppy coming out of Severus's cell as she came around the corner of the hallway. She stopped and waited for the mediwitch to come abreast of her before speaking. The woman looked upset. Apparently her visit with Severus hadn't gone well.

"How's he doing, Poppy?" Minerva asked.

Poppy stopped and visibly composed herself before answering. "He needs to rest, but he'll be fine. If you'll excuse me, Minerva, I should get back to my other patients."

Minerva nodded. "Of course..." Before she could say anything else, Poppy nodded briskly and fled down the corridor and out of sight. Minerva continued on to Severus's cell. When she entered she found Severus sitting bolt upright on the edge of his bed.

Shutting the door behind her, Minerva addressed the obviously agitated man. "Is everything all right, Severus?"

Severus's eyes glittered, and as she watched, he purposely relaxed his hands and rubbed them back and forth on his thighs, as if to take the soreness out of them. "What do you think?" he asked in a deeply aggrieved tone.

Clearly he and Poppy had had an argument and Severus wasn't in the best of moods, not that she'd really expected him to be cheerful, he was being held on suspicion of killing someone, but she had hoped that if Poppy could heal his wounds he might be feeling a bit better physically and might, just might, be a tad more cooperative. Hoping that they could still have a useful discussion, she opted to ignore the challenge in his tone and begin again.

"How are you feeling?" she asked as she looked him over carefully. His skin looked as translucent as old parchment and the bulk of white bandage on the side of his throat stood out like a strange growth. But his eyes burned with an inner fire that hadn't been present when he was found upstairs, and a shiver of nervousness flitted through her as he turned that fire toward her.

"Well, that's a question with many answers," he stated in the same harsh rasping tones he'd used in the library. "Shall we begin with the most mundane? Thanks to Poppy's ministrations, I am currently no longer in any physical pain. Even though the woman apparently doesn't believe in my innocence, she didn't allow her feelings to prevent her from doing her job well. Not that I'd expect otherwise. She's always been very professional. My throat no longer throbs to the beat of my heart. My voice, although certainly no longer possessing the mellifluous tone it once had, no longer hurts to use. Thank you for sending her down to help me."

Minerva frowned, but before she could say anything, Severus continued. "As to how I feel in other than a strictly physical sense, I feel quite as you no doubt imagine I do. Angry, frustrated, bitter… the usual assortment of feelings someone possesses when he finds himself caught up in circumstances beyond his control and blamed for something he did not do."

Severus's voice had risen with his words, and Minerva let a couple heartbeats of silence go by before speaking herself in a deliberately calm tone. She knew she'd get nowhere if their discussion degenerated into an argument immediately. "You continue to deny killing Irma then?"

"Yes, of course I deny it. I didn't do it! Why would I kill Irma Pince? Even if she had come upon me in the library and threatened to expose me, I certainly wouldn't have had to kill her to silence her. Not to mention that my exposure would hardly have been fatal in any case. You know the truth about me now. I know you do. So you must realize it was only a matter of time until what Potter knew became common knowledge, and I'd have been free to walk among you again. Why on earth would I do anything that would destroy my chance to live a free life for the first time in more years than I can count? Do you have an answer to that? Please, enlighten me if you do. Why would I jeopardize my own freedom by killing someone as innocuous as Irma Pince?"

"I don't know, Severus, and that's what bothers me. You're right. I do know the truth. I know that you've been acting on Albus's orders for years even in committing his mur…" She stopped abruptly and began again. "Even in the matter of his death, you apparently were doing as he wished. If you can prove this, and apparently you can though obviously I haven't seen this proof, then there's no reason for you to have killed anyone to remain hidden. Yet Irma is dead, and there doesn't appear to be any other explanation."

Minerva began to pace. "Someone killed her, Severus. Kingsley and I had just reached the fourth floor landing when we heard her scream. We ran down the corridor as fast as we could. If anyone else had fled from the library before we got there, we'd have seen them. As you know, there are no other exits from that room. When we entered the library we found you bending over her body. No one else was there."

"Did you search the room thoroughly?" asked Severus quickly.

Minerva nodded. "Kingsley assures me that it was searched completely. No one else was found. And there was no evidence that anyone else had been there at all."

Severus slumped back against the wall and sighed wearily. "I don't know what to tell you, Minerva, other than what I've already said. I had no reason to kill Irma. You know I could have easily subdued her, or wiped her memory, or even persuaded her to hide me had she found me. She and I always got along well. I knew I'd be exonerated eventually. There is no logic to this charge. None."

Minerva couldn't argue with him. Nothing about the situation made sense to her either, but she had neither the authority to go against Kingsley, nor any other explanation to offer.

"The last spell cast by your wand was a slicing hex. The same hex that killed her," she said offering up a bit of evidence against him in the hope he'd have an answer for it.

"Oh, come on," snorted Severus shortly. "Slicing hexes were flashing back and forth all over Hogwarts during the battle. If you tested the wands of every person who took part I guarantee you that most, if not all of them, would give you the exact same result. That proves nothing and you know it."

She grimaced as she recalled saying almost those identical words to Filius when he told her about the hex. "It's circumstantial, I'll grant you, but it doesn't help your case."

"No, I don't suppose it does." He looked up at Minerva as she watched him from across the cell. "Do you believe I killed her?"

Minerva shivered and looked very unhappy. "I honestly don't know, Severus. I've gone through such a whirlwind of feelings about you in the past few hours; I find I no longer know what to believe. I had always thought you were an ally and at times, a friend. I trusted you, cared about you, and, believe it or not, I was happy to know you."

Severus smiled faintly in response to her comments.

"Then you killed Albus, and I threw all I thought I knew about you away and firmly convinced myself that I'd been wrong, and that you were an enemy. Your tenure as Headmaster confused me at times, I will admit, but my anger at my friend's most horrible death prevented me from giving credence to anything that contradicted the view that you were a traitor. I simply would not allow myself to waver from that conviction. I would not have known what to do if I had."

He nodded in agreement and smiled grimly. "I expended a lot of effort to keep you thinking exactly that. It was safer for both of us."

She shook her head and continued, "Then, when Kingsley told me that we'd been wrong about you, that you were on our side after all, I felt such relief and such guilt. I hardly know how to express it. I couldn't wait for you to be found so I could apologise for ever doubting you, though I wasn't sure how I'd ever find the words."

She threw up her hands and began to pace once more. "It wasn't but a few minutes more before I did in fact come face to face with you, but the shock of those circumstances certainly drove any thought of an apology from my mind. Because instead of discovering you in hiding, waiting to be welcomed back once the truth was finally known, I found you bending over the still warm body of my poor, unfortunate colleague with her blood coating your hands and dripping from your robes. Honestly, Severus, I simply don't know what to believe or even if I'm capable of discerning the truth about anything any longer."

Silence filled the room for a few moments as they simply stared at each other. Then Severus forced himself to his feet and crossed to stand before her.

"I know that you must find this all unfathomable. It is to me as well. I won't deny that I've deceived you in the past. In order to do as Albus wished, in order to wage the battle I had to wage, I was forced to lie to you and everyone else. But I swear to you, Minerva, I am not lying to you now, and I will never lie to you again. I did not kill Irma Pince."

Minerva stared into the dark depths of Severus's eyes and felt the tight knot in the pit of her stomach begin to ease and her expression softened. "Then we have to discover who did," she said quietly and realised with relief that she meant it.

As she watched, Severus drew a slightly ragged breath and a tentative smile tugged at his lips. "You believe me." It was a statement of relieved belief, not a question.

She smiled a small crooked smile. "Yes. It appears that I do."

She spread her arms and he walked into them, and for a very long moment, they simply stood quietly, holding each other. Then, as if embarrassed to have given in to such sentiment, Minerva cleared her throat, shifted her grip on her friend and helped him back to his bed.

And Severus allowed himself to be helped. They sat down together, side by side, and looked at each other once more.

Minerva broke the silence first. "So now what? Any ideas?"

"Someone came into the library after I did and before Irma did. That person is the one who killed her. Somehow we have to discover who that person is and where they went."

Minerva nodded her agreement. "Yes. I'll try to find out everything I can, though I'm not sure what I'll be able to learn. You were there in the room, even if you were in hiding, are you sure you didn't see or hear anything that might help identify whoever came in?"

A frown settled on Severus's features for a moment, then suddenly his expression brightened. "Irma said, "Who are you?" That must mean she didn't know her attacker. That should eliminate quite a few possibilities."

"It's a start anyway."

"Irma knew everyone at Hogwarts. If her killer was a stranger then it almost has to be one of the Death Eaters," said Severus firmly.

Minerva nodded. "Yes, I'm afraid you're right about that."

They stared at each other in gloomy silence for a moment. Then Minerva sighed. "Well, we aren't going to figure this out now, and you need to get some rest. You still have a lot of healing to do."

Severus rubbed his forehead and nodded his agreement. "Yes. I feel like I could sleep for a week."

Minerva patted his arm and got to her feet. But before she took more than a single step away, she turned back with a question. "Oh. Severus, one more thing... You said you knew that I knew you weren't a traitor. How did you know that I'd been told the truth? Did Poppy tell you?"

"Ah, that…" He shook his head. "No, Lupin told me."

Minerva went chalk white and her eyes glistened fiercely. "That's not funny, Severus. Remus couldn't have told you anything. He was killed during the battle. He's dead."

"No, Minerva, I don't believe he is. I've spoken to him right here in this cell. He's certainly not himself at the moment, but I've become quite convinced that he's not actually dead, though he will be before long unless we can do something to stop it."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

"Severus, how can you of all people joke about a thing like that? I know that you and Remus had your difficulties for years, but I also know you patched them up. Whatever your relationship was recently, I'd still have thought his death would be a sorrow for you, not a subject for amusement."

"Minerva, I assure you this isn't a joke. Remus Lupin stood, or hovered would be more accurate, I suppose, right where you currently stand and talked to me not much more than a half hour ago. I know you've seen his apparently lifeless body, but that doesn't mean…"

Suddenly he stopped and stared at her in surprise. "What do you mean you know we patched up our difficulties? How could you possibly know what my relationship with Lupin was like?"

Minerva rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. Give me a little credit, Severus. You and Remus overcame all your differences while he was teaching at Hogwarts. I observed you together many times during that year, and it was crystal clear to me that, though there was indeed still strong feeling between you, it was no longer antagonistic. Quite the opposite, in fact. Frankly, it pleased me no end. I was delighted to see the two of you happy. You both deserved a little happiness it seemed to me.

"I was really rather surprised when you exposed him as a werewolf and caused him to leave the school at the end of that year, though I always assumed that Sirius Black had something to do with whatever happened. That boy never could leave well enough alone.

"I also know that you and Remus managed to get past that difficulty as well because for most of the next year or so you seemed closer than ever."

"How could you possibly know that?" Severus didn't bother to try to hide his amazement.

"I have eyes," she said. "You might have thought the two of you were being discreet, but to me it seemed quite obvious that you were a couple."

Severus frowned at the idea that his relationship with Remus had been such an open book to those around them.

Taking pity on him, she smiled reassuringly. "It probably wasn't that obvious to anyone who didn't know of your prior relationship, and I certainly never discussed the matter with anyone else, nor did anyone ever mention it to me. I did wonder what happened though. Why you suddenly weren't together anymore, and I definitely wondered why Remus…" She hesitated.

"Why Remus married Nymphadora Tonks?" Severus asked. "Yes, well, you weren't alone there. Not that it didn't aid my cause. I broke things off to protect both of us and having him marry someone else, and a female at that, certainly eliminated even the faintest fear that anyone would connect him to me or would ever imagine that he had any meaning for me at all save that of a long time enemy. He was as safe as I could make him, and I was secure in my role as a spy and that was the end of us. Period."

Sympathy shown in Minerva's eyes and she reached out to place a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. That must have been a very difficult thing to do."

Severus laughed. "Considering that everything I was doing at the time was as difficult as hell, you wouldn't think that breaking off a relationship would be one of the harder things I had to accomplish, but it was."

He looked up at her. "So you have to believe me when I say I wouldn't joke about Lupin not being dead. I'm not denying that his body is lying upstairs in the mortuary, but his… his spirit is wandering around Hogwarts trying to figure out what the hell happened to him. I think I know what did happen. What I'm not certain of yet, is what to do to correct it."

Minerva sank back down onto the bed and stared at him. "You're serious."

"Yes."

"Tell me about it."

"Lupin floated in here and told me he was somehow blasted out of his body during the battle. At first, he naturally thought he was dead, but he gradually came to wonder whether that was true or not. I believe he's right to wonder. I seem to be the only person who can see and communicate with him. No one else has responded to him at all, but I can see and hear him and when he touches me, it sends a painful shiver straight through me."

"How horrible! But you think you know what happened to him?" prompted Minerva.

"I'm afraid that he was hit with a separation hex."

"Oh, dear. Well, that would explain it, wouldn't it."

"Yes, it would." Severus frowned.

"Including why you're the only one who can see him. Only someone with a very strong emotional connection to the victim could communicate with him once he's been… disembodied."

"That's true," he admitted.

"There is a ritual that can be performed to reunite the spirit and body, isn't there?" she asked.

"Yes, but it's ridiculously complicated and has to be done within five hours of the time of separation."

"But it's been that long already!" exclaimed Minerva.

"I know," said Severus grimly. "I don't think there's enough time left for the ritual to save him, but that doesn't mean we should give up hope yet. Could you do me a favour?"

"If I can, certainly," said Minerva.

"We need to find another answer. I need to read up on the separation hex. There's a book in the library that goes into a lot of detail on obscure dark hexes called "Arcane Magic Most Rare". Could you possibly have it sent down to me? If I have no choice but to sit here in enforced isolation, at least I can make myself useful."

"I'm not sure that Kingsley would approve of you having access to any magical texts."

Severus shrugged. "Don't tell him. You're the acting Headmistress now. Just get the book and send it down to me."

She stood up, a look of amusement on her face at his insistence. "I'll try."

"It might be Remus's only chance," persisted Severus.

"I said I'll try, Severus."

"All right. You need to prevent them from burying his body, too. Whatever we decide to do, he'll need access to it if he's ever to have a chance to reclaim it."

"Anything else?" she asked.

"Well, we do need to find out who killed Irma." He gave her a wry smile. "Should I make you a list?"

With a brief snort, she crossed the room to the door. "I think I'll manage to remember without one. Accomplishing it all is another thing. I'll do my best, though. Try not to worry, Severus." Then with a final smile, she was gone.

Severus leaned back against the wall and stared at the locked door. _Try not to worry_... That was one thing he was unlikely to be able to accomplish no matter how hard he tried.

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

Remus stepped out of the stairwell and moved around the side of the main staircase into the entrance hall. Ever since he'd entered Severus's cell, moving had become much easier though he didn't know why. It was clear he was still invisible, and he seemed to be able to walk through things as easily as ever, so obviously nothing substantial had changed, yet he felt different.

He walked through a suit of armour standing near the staircase and saw Kingsley Shacklebolt in the middle of the entrance hall talking to one of the other Aurors. Figuring it might be useful to listen in, he began to move closer. It still felt odd to just walk across an open space and stand next to someone, yet be confident that they'd never know he was there. Being invisible definitely had its uses.

Just as he got near enough to overhear Kingsley's conversation, another Auror came down the stairs clutching a piece of parchment. The man strode across the wide room and stopped in front of Kingsley, waiting to be noticed. As soon as Kingsley finished speaking to his companion, he nodded him away and turned to the new arrival.

Undoubtedly Kingsley was the one in charge here now, a situation that Remus could have predicted had he stopped to think about it. Harry might have been the hero of the hour, but he was still a boy and not part of the team. The Aurors who'd remained loyal to the side of light would automatically look to one of their own to lead them, and Kingsley was the natural choice.

"Okay, Reese, how's the search going?" Kingsley asked the new man.

"We've searched the entire castle with the exception of the Headmaster's tower," said Reese. "We haven't found anyone who doesn't have a legitimate reason to be here." The man handed the parchment to Kingsley. "I've asked around, and as near as we can determine, the list at the top of the page includes all the Death Eaters we've either captured or killed. The names at the bottom are the ones we know about, but can't account for. It's possible they were never here, of course. Some of them could still be at the Ministry or they might have managed to slip away during the fighting. We know some of them did run. Those we're sure about are listed on the back of the parchment."

Kingsley nodded and looked the list over carefully. "Very thorough. Thank you." Then he glanced up at the man and asked, "Why did you exempt the Headmaster's tower from the search?"

Reese flushed slightly and admitted, "We didn't actually exempt it. The entrance is password protected and none of us have been able to guess the password or break through the security wards. With enough firepower, we might be able to destroy the Gargoyle and get in that way. Do you want us to try?"

Kingsley frowned and shook his head. "No, I don't want to cause any damage I don't have to. There's been enough destroyed here already. I'll head up there and give it a try myself. While I do that, I want you to find Bill Weasley and ask if he'll come up and give me a hand. He's a code-breaker and is familiar with security warding. You'll find him in the mortuary. His brother was killed in the fighting, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that Bill would welcome the chance to take his mind off his sorrows for a bit. Don't push it if he isn't, though, okay?"

"Yes, sir." Reese nodded, turned away from Kingsley and walked straight through Remus. By now Remus was getting used to people walking through him as if he wasn't there, but this time things happened a bit differently. Although Remus still didn't feel the man walk through him, Reese wasn't nearly as unaffected.

As soon as the Auror moved through Remus's body, he doubled over in agony and gave a sharp cry. Remus swivelled around and gaped in surprise as Reese lay curled up on the floor looking as if someone had kicked him in a very vulnerable spot. Kingsley knelt next to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Reese? What's the matter? Are you all right?"

The Auror took a deep shaky breath, slowly uncurled his body and sat up with Kingsley's assistance. His face had gone dead white. "I... I don't know. I don't know what happened. All of a sudden I felt as if I was being turned inside out. I felt cold, nauseous, disoriented. The feeling hit me in a flash and left just as suddenly."

Kingsley's frown deepened. "Are you okay now?"

The Auror pulled himself together and nodded. "Yeah... Yeah, I feel fine now. Whatever it was seems to be gone."

Kingsley helped the man to his feet. "You sure you're all right? I could get someone else to help if you need to sit down for a bit."

Reese shook his head and managed a lop-sided smile. "No, really, I'm okay. I'll just go and see if I can find Bill Weasley."

"Okay, if you're sure. Thanks." Kingsley stood and watched Reese walk off across the entrance hall while Remus tried to figure out what had happened. It certainly seemed as if Reese had been affected by walking through him, but why this particular man was affected so dramatically when people had been walking through him for hours with no effect was a mystery.

Just to be absolutely sure that he'd been the cause of Reese's collapse, Remus reached out and ran the tips of his fingers through Kingsley's shoulder, silently apologising to the man for any discomfort he was about to cause. The tall Auror immediately reached up and grabbed his shoulder, eyes wide and scanning the empty room for threats.

Remus stepped back out of reach and waited.

Kingsley drew his wand and exclaimed, "Is anyone there? Show yourself?"

When he received no response, Kingsley exclaimed, "Finite Incantatem!" After another moment of silence, he cast a smoke spell designed to reveal an invisible intruder, but since Remus was insubstantial in addition to being invisible, the smoke just swirled through him.

Finally Kingsley seemed to decide that whatever he'd felt wasn't an immediate threat so he turned and headed slowly up the main staircase. He kept his wand in his hand, however and continued to turn his head suspiciously from side to side.

Remus watched him go, unsure of what it all meant. After Kingsley reacted to his touch, he had no doubt that he was the cause of both men's discomfort. Could he have somehow become a tiny bit more solid? Enough to allow his presence to be felt but not enough to be revealed by Kingsley's smoke spell? That could explain both the fact that the men felt his touch and that he was able to get some traction when he tried to move. If this was true, what could have caused it?

Suddenly he remembered the tingling sensation he'd felt when he moved through the wards protecting Severus's cell. Maybe that was the answer. Perhaps passing through the wards had done something to make him more solid. If so, maybe going through them again would make him even more solid. It was worth a try, anyway.

So Remus headed back down to the dungeon again, eager to test his theory.

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

Standing in the Restricted Section of the library, Minerva pulled a book off the shelf and turned it over in her hands, examining it carefully. An image of splayed fingers casting some sort of wandless spell framed a stern face with glistening dark eyes that stared back at her from the cover of "Arcane Magic Most Rare". A nervous, almost queasy feeling came over her as she opened it and glanced thorough its pages. With a shiver she slammed the book shut again and slipped it under her arm.

Some books, particularly books dealing with dark magic, had very strong magical auras and the aura that surrounded this one was quite unpleasant. Still if Severus thought the information it contained might help Remus, it was worth the discomfort she felt handling the thing, but she'd certainly be happier once she passed it on.

Clutching the book tightly, she walked back down the aisle of the Restricted Section and out into the main part of the library. Drawing her wand, she summoned a house-elf.

In the twinkling of an eye, one appeared before her and bowed. "How may Mercy be of service, Professor McGonagall?"

Minerva handed the book to the elf. "Headmaster Snape is in the old Arithmancy classroom near the kitchen. He needs this book, please take it to him. There's a guard outside his room, but there's no need for you to disturb him with this. The room is warded, but that won't be a problem for you, will it?"

"Oh no, Mercy can easily go through any wards in the castle," the elf declared proudly.

"Good. The Headmaster needs the book right away."

Minerva's eyes strayed to the dried blood staining the rug by Irma's desk. "And once you're done with that, please have someone clean up the blood stain beside Madam Pince's desk."

"Yes, Professor McGonagall, right away. Will there be anything else?" The house-elf regarded her with huge eyes, anxious to please.

Minerva shook her head and tried to smile. "No, thank you."

The elf bowed and vanished with a pop.

Once the elf was gone, Minerva looked around and shivered involuntarily, though it wasn't particularly cold in the library. She wasn't a fanciful woman as a rule, but no matter how she tried, she couldn't quite shake the uncomfortable feeling that she wasn't alone. Telling herself she was being ridiculous, she turned and headed for the door.

She paused at the foot of Irma's desk and picked up a basic Transfiguration text from the floor. She set it on Irma's desk with a frown then quickly headed for the door to the library. When she stepped out into the hall she drew a deep breath and expelled it with a feeling of relief. Stepping away from the library door, she briefly wondered if she'd ever feel comfortable going back into that room again.

A gentle touch on her sleeve caused her to turn her head and look down to see Flitwick smiling up at her. "Is everything all right, Minerva?"

She nodded and gave his hand a reassuring pat. "Yes, I'm fine. I just find it uncomfortable to be in there now. I feel eyes on the back of my head, and I keep seeing Irma lying there."

He nodded in sympathy. "I feel the same way. It's as if she's still with us, isn't it? Even in death, it's as if she's watching over her beloved books." He shook his head sorrowfully. "Such a loss."

Minerva nodded thoughtfully. "You could be right. I hadn't thought of that. Have you been here since I last saw you?"

"Oh, yes, I haven't let the door out of my sight for an instant. No one has been in or out except you, of course." He yawned and covered his mouth with a hand. "I'll stay for awhile longer, but eventually I'm afraid I'll need to get some sleep. I'm not as young as I once was, and fighting all night, followed by helping with the wounded has tired me out, I'm afraid. When I go, I've arranged for Pomona and Sybill to take watches in shifts. I asked the Friar to keep an eye out as well during his wanderings."

"That sounds fine, Filius. I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be able to go on myself without some sleep."

"How's Severus, if you don't mind my asking? He didn't look well at all when Auror Shacklebolt took him downstairs. Do you both still think he killed Irma?"

"I don't know what Kingsley thinks, but after talking with Severus, I'm inclined to think he's telling the truth. Which means someone else killed Irma, and they may still be hiding here in the castle."

Flitwick nodded his agreement. "I'm glad to hear that you don't think Severus is guilty, but I don't know where a stranger could be hiding. We've searched the library several times now, and I heard a couple of Aurors talking just a few minutes ago. It seems they've searched the castle thoroughly, except for the Headmaster's tower, and I don't know how anyone could get up there without Severus's password. Do you know it?"

"No, unlike Albus, Severus didn't share his password with anyone that I'm aware of. I doubt it's the name of a sweet though."

Flitwick laughed shortly. "No. Not exactly his style. Maybe he used potion ingredients instead."

Minerva smiled in return. "Perhaps. I'll have to ask him. I'll stop by again later."

Flitwick nodded before settling back into the chair he'd placed near the library door.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Remus approached Severus's cell with a heart filled with equal measures of hope and trepidation. Perhaps passing through the wards that surrounded the cell was responsible for his new ability to be felt by others. It seemed a logical assumption to make. That tingling he'd felt the first time he'd gone through had to mean something, and magic did sometimes have odd side-effects and unexpected interactions. Going through the wards again might make a difference, yet he'd been through them twice already; once on the way in and once on the way out of the cell, and he couldn't remember feeling the same tingle the second time.

He hesitated just outside the door, suddenly reluctant to discover that immersing himself in the wards wasn't going to make any more difference than it already had. However, he was here now so he might as well give it a try. If it didn't change anything, he wasn't any worse off, was he? Deciding that he was being ridiculous and wasting time as well, he pushed himself forward and through the door into the cell.

Severus looked up as Remus glided into the room and raised an eyebrow. "Back already? Did you find out anything useful?"

Remus felt a sudden wash of embarrassment as he realized that in his rush to test his theory, he hadn't made it up to the library to look around for something that might help Severus.

"Uh, no, I didn't get up to the library. I made a discovery about my own situation and wanted to test out an idea." As he realised that he didn't feel the tingle this time, he grimaced and shook his head. "It didn't work, though."

"What didn't work?" asked Severus.

"Well, you know how I told you that people were just walking through me and never noticing I was there."

"Yes."

"That seems to have changed."

"Really? How so?"

"The first time I came through the wards that Kingsley put on your cell, I felt this tingle go through me. Ever since then, I've been able to move a bit easier. Then I touched you and you felt it, remember?"

Severus shuddered. "How could I forget?"

"Well, at the time, I assumed the fact that I could make you feel my presence was connected to your being able to see and hear me while other can't, but now I don't think that's the case.

"After I left here, two other people felt my presence. Although I don't seem to be any more solid than I was before, I made Kingsley's arm tingle just like yours, and one of the other Aurors actually collapsed after walking through me. I thought the tingle I felt going through Kingsley's wards might have been what changed me. So I came back to try it again, hoping that if I went through them often enough I might become more solid. Then maybe other people would be able to see me."

Remus shrugged. "But now I think that whatever effect the wards had on me, it was a one time thing. I didn't feel anything when I went through them this time."

"You could be right," said Severus thoughtfully. "The wards might very well have interacted with your spirit form in an unexpected way, but if so, it's just as well it didn't turn out to be a recurring effect. You don't really want to become more solid as you are now. You have a solid body upstairs. What we need to figure out is how to merge the two of you together again."

"It's past the time when the ritual could be effective, Severus," said Remus simply.

"Perhaps that isn't the only way."

They stared at each other for a long moment. As he saw the concern reflected in Severus's eyes, Remus felt warmed at the realization that Severus did still care about him after all.

"Maybe not," he admitted, more for Severus's sake than his own. "Though I don't know of any other way. Do you?"

Severus shook his head. "Nothing definite, but I don't think you should give up just yet."

Remus got the feeling that Severus wasn't telling him everything, but he figured if the man was holding something back, he probably had a good reason for it. He wasn't going to start doubting Severus again. So he smiled and nodded. "Okay. I guess I'll go back upstairs and do what I intended to do before, see if I can find out something that can help you."

"Did you learn anything useful when you encountered Shacklebolt, other than the fact that you can make him physically uncomfortable, that is?" Severus smirked at the thought of Kingsley's discomfort. Considering how much discomfort the man had forced on him, it seemed only fair for Remus to return the favour on his behalf even if he didn't do it deliberately.

"From what little I heard, Kingsley and his men seem more intent on searching the castle for Death Eaters than on finding out who killed Irma. They were discussing the fact that they couldn't get into the Headmaster's tower because they didn't have the password."

"They won't either," said Severus smugly. "I reinforced the wards myself this past year. No one, Auror or Death Eater, will be able to get in there without a password."

"I'm sure they won't. Well, I'll just head up to the library then. I'll let you know if I..."

Before Remus could finish his thought, a house-elf blinked into being in the middle of the room. The elf crossed over to where Severus sat on the bed, bowed and handed him a large book.

"Professor McGonagall asked Mercy to give this to you, Headmaster, sir," squeaked the elf.

Severus reached out and took the book. "Thank you. I've been expecting it."

With a nod, the elf vanished as quickly as she appeared.

"What's the book?" asked Remus, curious to know what sort of reading Severus was doing.

Already perusing the table of contents to find what he wanted, Severus glanced up briefly. "It's from the library. I had Minerva send it down to me. I wanted to do a bit of research on separation hexes."

Touched that even in the midst of his own personal mess, Severus would spare a moment to try to help him, Remus smiled. "Thanks. I really appreciate that, especially under the circumstances."

Severus shrugged. "It's of no matter. There isn't anything I can do to change my situation at the moment, and I need to occupy my time."

"Well, it matters to me, so thank you."

Looking a trifle uncomfortable, Severus nodded and turned his eyes back to the book in his hands.

"You know, the fact that Minerva is willing to send you that book is a good sign," said Remus. "It means she doesn't believe you killed Irma. If she did, she'd never send you a book on dark magic."

"That's true. She does seem to believe me." Severus ran his index finger along the edge of the open book, caressing it gently, before looking up at Remus once more. "However, I could use your eyes and ears out there looking for more evidence. Besides, the longer you stand there talking to me, the longer it will take for me to read this book and see if it contains any information that will allow me to help you."

"Right, sorry. I'll just head back upstairs." With a final quick smile, Remus walked back through the door. Even before he'd completely vanished through the wood, Severus had returned to his reading. He had an unpleasant feeling that the clock was ticking for both of them.

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

At the sound of a key turning in the lock, Severus quickly shoved the book Minerva had sent him under his pillow and lay down on it, feigning sleep. Heavy footsteps came into the room and stopped. He could hear breathing, but whoever was there didn't speak. Severus raised his eyelids a fraction to see if he could make out who it was. Obviously it wasn't either Minerva or Remus. Minerva had a lighter, quicker step and Remus had no step at all at the moment. He bet himself that it was Shacklebolt back for another go round, and he was smugly pleased to see that he was right.

Opening his eyes completely, he raised himself on one elbow and cocked an eyebrow at his visitor. "Back so soon? Did you bring the thumbscrews with you this time?"

"Cut the sarcasm, Snape. I haven't got the time to trade insults and snide remarks. I need to ask you some questions."

Severus sat up. "I already told you I didn't kill Irma Pince and that, although I heard her murder take place, I didn't see who did it. I'm not sure what I can add to that." His voice hardened as he noted the scepticism on Shacklebolt's face. "I can see I'm wasting my time pleading my case to you. It's clear you don't believe me."

"Frankly, I don't know what to believe about you anymore, and I really don't have the time to try to sort it all out right now. I still have to tackle clearing out the Ministry and getting Azkaban back under our control, not to mention rounding up all the Death Eaters who turned tail and ran after their leader was defeated. Babysitting you just isn't a high priority right now. You're going to have to stay here at Hogwarts until things calm down, and I can deal with you properly."

"If I'm such a low priority, why are you wasting your valuable time standing here talking to me when you could be out there doing truly important work, and I could be getting some much needed rest?"

"I need some information from you." Kingsley looked as if this admission was somewhat distasteful.

"What sort of information?"

"I need the password to the Headmaster's tower. It's the only part of the castle we haven't been able to search."

Severus raised an eyebrow and a smirk caught at the corner of his lips. "If your highly trained Aurors couldn't manage to get inside, surely you don't think the Death Eaters could?"

"They could if they knew the password," said Kingsley flatly.

"Ah, I see. We're back to the fact that you don't trust me."

"Did you give the password to anyone?" Kingsley's annoyance and volume began to rise as his patience lessened.

"Why bother to ask me? You wouldn't believe what I said anyway," declared Severus in an equally aggravated tone of voice as he crossed his arms.

They glared at each other in tense silence for the space to several heartbeats, then Kingsley sighed and rubbed the back of his neck as if it hurt.

"Can you just answer the question?" he said in a calmer tone.

"Oh, very well. No. I did not share my password with anyone. I rather enjoyed having one place in the castle where I could go and be alone, at least as alone as one can be in a room full of nosy portraits watching your every move."

"Will you give the password to me now?"

"Obsequious cretin."

"I'm not going to stand here and trade insults, Snape. Just give me the damned password!"

Severus smirked and leaned back against the wall. "That is the password, Shacklebolt, but I still say you're wasting your time searching up there. Even if someone did miraculously find their way inside, the portraits would put up a fuss and one of them, at the very least, would have raised the alarm immediately."

"Perhaps, but we'll have to search it anyway."

Severus shrugged and waved a languid hand toward the door. "Be my guest. I am surprised you didn't just ask Potter for the password, though. I left a special one for him to use. I thought he might have a need to get back up there."

"I'm not sure where Harry is at the moment. He was pretty tired after his battle with Voldemort. You say he can get into the tower?"

"He can. I gave the Gargoyle special instructions regarding him. I don't believe Potter has his own Pensieve. Since he apparently did view the memories I gave him, I can only assume that means he figured out the password, went up to the office and used Albus's. It's a shame he didn't check around for hidden Death Eaters while he was there, isn't it?"

Kingsley looked annoyed but said nothing in response.

"Once you do get into the Headmaster's suite, you could access Albus's Pensieve yourself," suggested Severus hesitantly.

"What good would that do?" Kingsley's eyes narrowed.

"I'd be willing to give you my memories of what happened in the library. Then you could see for yourself that I neither killed Irma nor saw who did."

"Your memories wouldn't be admissible in a court of law, you know."

"No, but they might stop you from dragging me into one. Or are you saying you wouldn't believe me even if you saw for yourself that I'm innocent?"

Kingsley hesitated briefly, then nodded. "All right, Snape. Once I finish mopping up after the battle, we'll revisit this. If you're willing to give up your memories, and if they show what you say they will, I'll take them into account when I'm deciding whether or not to charge you with the crime. Satisfied?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not really."

"Fine. As long as you're willing to look at the memories, I suppose that's all I can ask."

Now that Kingsley had the information he'd come for, Severus expected him to leave, but he made no move toward the door, instead, he reached into an inner pocket and pulled out a folded piece of parchment. "One more thing. There are three Death Eaters who we believe took part in the battle that we can't account for. I wonder if you know anything about their status or whereabouts."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "I might, but I'm pretty sure we've established that you're unlikely to believe anything I say so why are you bothering to ask?"

"I have to start somewhere, and you're the logical person to start with. Besides, if your information checks out, that's a point in favour of believing other things you say."

After a moment's consideration, Severus nodded. "All right. Who do you want to know about?"

Kingsley consulted the parchment. "Daniel Grant, Edwin Conneally, and Barnaby Rutledge."

"All of them are ruthless, but not overly bright. You don't need to worry about Grant. He's dead. Bellatrix killed him in a fit of pique shortly before the battle began. What happened to her anyway? Do you know? That woman is thoroughly deranged. The Dark Lord never had a more fervent or dangerous supporter."

"Bellatrix is dead. Molly Weasley killed her."

Severus's eyebrows joined his hairline. "Did she really? Will wonders never cease."

"Can we get on with this, please?"

"As you wish... You'll find Grant's body, if you're interested in recovering it, in the woods behind Hagrid's hut unless some denizen of the forest has a very strong stomach, that is. I believe you'll find Rutledge at the Ministry. He's been trailing our puppet Minister for Magic around as a body guard. I don't know anything about Conneally's whereabouts. He was at the battle. I saw him just as things got started, but I haven't seen him since."

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

As Minerva started to leave the library in Flitwick's care, she noticed a lonely figure standing half hidden in shadow at a corner of the hallway. With a stab of guilt, she recognized the hunched figure as Argus Filch. The man stood quietly, holding his cat in his arms and stared fixedly at the door to the library. She'd intended to head straight down to the mortuary, but this was something she needed to take care of first.

Changing direction, she headed toward the castle caretaker. As Deputy Headmistress of the school, watching out for the faculty and staff was every bit as much her responsibility as watching over the students. She knew, or at least believed, that Argus and Irma were close. Whether they were any more than good friends, she wasn't privileged to know, but she knew that he spent more time with the librarian than with anyone else in the castle. That had to mean something.

As she drew closer to Filch, she mentally chastised herself for not seeking him out much sooner. The man deserved to hear what happened from her rather than through whatever rumour mill still functioned in the school. True, she had been a bit busy and hadn't been sure that he was still around, but she should have found the time to check.

Filch had helped with the evacuation of the students, although he hadn't participated in any of the fighting as far as she knew, not that she'd expected him to. The man was a squib. He wouldn't stand a chance in a battle with witches and wizards armed with magic. What was he supposed to do? Throw rocks? No, his only sensible course of action was to find somewhere to keep out of sight until the dust settled, and if he chose to do just that, who could blame him?

If she was honest, Minerva had to admit that she'd never really liked the dour and sharp-tongued Filch, and she'd been increasingly uncertain just where his loyalties lay after he spent so much time ingratiating himself with Dolores Umbridge. As time went on, however, it became very clear that Umbridge was only using Filch for her own purposes, just as everyone else always had. A squib like Filch wouldn't have had any sort of life under the rule of Voldemort, and the caretaker, despite his bitter grudges and his jealous anger, had to know that.

Besides, Hogwarts was Filch's home, if he left it, where would he go? And Irma? Was she the only true friend he had in the castle other than the cat he held in his arms? Suddenly, Minerva fervently hoped not.

As she came up beside the man, she noticed that tears were flowing unheeded down his cheeks, and putting all other feelings aside, she focused on the sympathy she felt for him.

"Argus?" she addressed him softly.

He seemed reluctant to take his eyes off the library door, but finally he turned his head and stared rather vacantly at her. "Is it true?" he asked in a gruff tone. "Did someone kill Ir… Madam Pince?"

She nodded. "Yes, Argus, it's true. I'm sorry."

"Are you sure it didn't happen during the fighting? She wasn't attacked by Death Eaters, was she?" Something of the distress he felt seeped into his voice, and Mrs Norris stirred in his embrace, purring loudly and rubbing her head comfortingly against his arm. Absently he began to stroke her fur and the action seemed to calm them both.

"We aren't sure yet who attacked her. Headmaster Snape was found kneeling beside her body. There was very little time between hearing her scream and discovering her dead, so the current assumption is that Severus killed her."

She waited to see what he'd say to this.

After a moment of silence, Filch shook his head firmly. "No. No, the Headmaster wouldn't have killed Irma. They always got on fine, and he knew she was no match for him. If she confronted him, he could have just disarmed her or knocked her out or something. He wouldn't need to kill her. I don't believe that. She must have run into one of those Death Eaters that were all over the castle. You need to make them try harder to find the real killer instead of just taking the easy way out by pinning it on Headmaster Snape."

Minerva wondered what Severus would think of Filch's staunch belief in his innocence.

"I'll do my best, Argus. For what it's worth, I don't think Severus did it, either."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Minerva approached the mortuary with mixed feelings. She'd seen Remus's body. It showed absolutely no sign of life at all. By any measure she knew, her friend was dead. Yet, Severus truly believed he'd spoken to him after the battle, and his explanation for their meeting made sense.

She knew she was taking an awful lot on faith. Faith that her trust in Severus hadn't been misplaced and faith that Remus was still out there somewhere, alive in some strange way. Yet it was faith she willingly gave. She wanted to believe that Severus hadn't killed Irma, and she definitely wanted to believe that Remus wasn't really dead. There had been too much loss and pain in the last twenty four hours, and she was more than willing to act on faith if there was even the slightest chance that her actions might stop death from claiming one more soul she cared about.

Since she couldn't stand constant watch over Remus's body, she'd decided that moving it somewhere more secluded would be the best course of action for now, so she was apprehensive when she opened the door to the mortuary and was confronted with the one person who might have objections to what she intended to do.

Andromeda Black Tonks stood beside her daughter's body with silent tears flowing down her cheeks as she stroked the dead woman's hair. Minerva hadn't seen Andromeda for years, and was saddened by the change in the once proud and confident woman. She was thin to the point of gauntness with skin as pale as fine parchment etched by the stark tracery of time. The war had been particularly unkind to her, first deepening the divide between herself and her sisters, then taking her husband, and now her daughter and, as far as she knew, her son-in-law as well.

Minerva glanced across the room to where Remus's body lay. As far as she could see, it hadn't been touched. She silently debated just going around Andromeda and doing what she came to do without speaking, fairly confident that the grieving woman wouldn't even be aware of her presence, but she dismissed that thought almost as soon as it occurred to her. Ignoring Andromeda wouldn't be right, so she squared her shoulders and crossed the room to stand beside the crying woman.

"Andromeda?" she said softly, hoping that it would be enough to penetrate the woman's grief. Unfortunately it wasn't, so she laid a gentle hand on Andromeda's arm and repeated her name a bit louder. This time Andromeda looked up, staring blankly at Minerva for an instant as if waiting for a mind slowed by grief to make the connections it needed to identify the person who spoke to her.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," Minerva said.

Andromeda nodded and sniffled. "Thank you." She dropped her gaze to her daughter's still form once more and continued to caress the woman's bright hair. "She shouldn't have died. I pleaded with her not to come, but she wouldn't listen. She seldom did anymore, at least not to me. She was always wilful, but I guess she came by it honestly."

Andromeda raised her head and looked at Minerva once more, her eyes burning with a sudden passion. "She wouldn't stay away as long as _he_ was here in the line of fire. I told her he wouldn't want her to come. I begged her. Told her she needed to stay with me for the boy's sake, but it was no good. Nothing mattered but that she should share in the danger he was facing. She never should have married him. I knew no good would come of it, and now she's dead. My only consolation is that he's dead, too."

Minerva was shocked at the bitter tone of her voice. "Remus was a good man, Andromeda. He loved your daughter. He never would have wanted anything to happen to her."

"Really? He didn't send her back to me, did he? Once she showed up, he let her stay, despite the danger. He let her die!"

"I don't think Remus could have sent her back even if he'd had the chance, which I don't know that he did. You weren't here, Andromeda; it was chaos! There was fighting everywhere."

"If he'd loved her, he'd have watched out for her," Andromeda declared flatly. "He's the reason my daughter is dead. He's the reason my grandson is an orphan, though I have to say the boy is better off without a father like that."

She dropped the sheet back over Tonks's face and carefully levitated her body. "I'm taking her with me. She can rest beside her father who loved her. I don't care what you do with him."

Minerva stepped back and watched sadly as Andromeda headed for the door with her daughter's enshrouded body. She felt cold and numb. A small part of her wanted to rush after the woman, to try to reason with her, but the greater part was relieved. If Andromeda didn't want to claim Remus's body, then no one else was likely to, and if Severus was right and they could find a way to reunite Remus's wandering spirit with his body, then this was for the best.

Once Remus was whole again, he could deal with Andromeda, though she had a feeling that he wouldn't have an easy time of it. Despite what Andromeda thought, Remus was a good father and Teddy wouldn't remain an orphan if things went the way she fervently hoped they would. As the door closed after Andromeda and Tonks, Minerva sighed and headed across the quiet room to the table where Remus's body lay.

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

Remus paused on his way up the central staircase and watched as Andromeda Tonks levitated a sheet wrapped body out of the west wing. It had to be his wife. Who else would she claim? He wasn't surprised to see her moving only one body. Andromeda hadn't been in favour of his marrying her daughter. She didn't feel they were a good match. She was right, of course. Despite all her declarations of love for him, Dora had never really been able to get over losing Bill Weasley, just as he'd still pined for Severus.

Their marriage had been the joining of two lonely souls hoping to find some affection and peace together. They might have managed it, too, under different circumstances, but life hadn't given them the time.

He watched sadly until the heavy oak door closed behind Andromeda with a muffled thump. Then saying a silent goodbye to his wife, he once more began to climb the long staircase, hoping that he could find something that would lead to a happier ending for the man he loved before he was forced to say goodbye to him, too.

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

Severus hurriedly slipped the spell book under his pillow when he once more heard the scratch of a key in the lock, but when Minerva entered alone, he pulled it back out with a sigh. Minerva closed the door behind her and leaned against it.

"I put Remus's body in the room next to this one for the moment," she declared without preamble. "I ran into Andromeda in the mortuary, but she wasn't interested in claiming Remus, only Tonks. I don't think anyone else will interfere, at least not right away. They all have too many other things to worry about. Was the book helpful?"

Severus nodded. "Yes, thank you for sending it. It was very helpful. In fact, I think I might have found a way to reunite Lupin with his body. For once he should be grateful he's a werewolf."

"I don't understand." Minerva frowned. "Why would being a werewolf matter?"

"That's because you've never studied the Dark Arts. Once the effective time for the ritual elapsed, the only thing keeping Lupin's body alive is the curse of the wolf within it. I know that Lupin always says that there isn't a separate identity inside him that he and the wolf are one and the same, but my study of lycanthropy indicates that it isn't quite as simple as that.

"No, there isn't a wolf, per se, lurking beneath his skin, but the curse is deeply rooted and, like many curses, it has a strange life of its own. It permeates his body, and it isn't easily subdued. It will fight to continue. The full moon is in what… two, three days from now?"

"Two, I think, I'd have to check to be certain," she said.

"It's soon then. Good." Severus nodded in satisfaction. "As long as the moon is waxing, the curse is getting stronger every day. It won't loosen its hold on Lupin until the full moon is spent. That intense hold will keep his body from deteriorating for now. However, the curse needs a complete person in order to come to fruition. A body alone isn't enough. It also needs a spirit.

"The werewolf curse is one of the strongest curses known to wizardkind. We've beaten it back a bit with the Wolfsbane potion, but nothing has yet overcome it. If we manage this right, once the curse has its way with him, Remus will be reintegrated again."

"So what exactly are you proposing we do?" asked Minerva.

"It's simple really. We just need to get Remus and his body into the same room during the rising of the full moon and let the curse take over. If I'm reading this book correctly, when the curse transforms the body into a wolf, it will shatter the barrier the separation hex left in place. Without that barrier, there will be nothing preventing a reuniting of spirit and body. Indeed, they each will almost irresistibly seek the other."

"Well, if you're right that solves one problem."

"Yes," he said simply. He didn't want to think about what would happen if he was wrong. If the curse wasn't actually strong enough to overcome the effects of the separation hex, then Remus's body would deteriorate and his spirit would move on to the next plane of existence, and they would never be together again this side of the grave.

Although it might be too late in any case, so much had happened to each of them since they'd parted ways, perhaps too much. Yet Remus had seemed to indicate that he was still interested in reconciliation, and the more Severus thought about it, the more he realised that was what he wanted, too. Finding a way to reunite Remus with his body solved only one of the obstacles that stood in their way, however.

"While you were upstairs, did you happen to discover anything that would help prove my innocence in Irma's murder?" he asked.

Minerva shook her head and frowned. "No, unfortunately I didn't."

Severus couldn't help feeling a bit depressed at that news, though he really hadn't expected any other answer. "Shacklebolt was here a while ago, looking for the password to the Headmaster's tower. It was quite apparent that he thinks I'm guilty. Of course, he implied that if I cooperated and gave him the password and information about some Death Eaters who are unaccounted for, that he might be more willing to believe other things I told him, but I think he just said that to get what he wanted."

"I don't know about that, Kingsley is an honest and decent man. If he said that he'd be more apt to believe what you say if you play fair with him, then I'd take him at his word."

"I suppose I might as well. It's not as if I have an overabundance of people on my side."

"Well, you have me... and Remus, which will probably hold more weight once other people can see him, I grant you."

Severus snorted shortly and nodded his agreement.

Minerva smiled. "And you have Argus's support as well. He didn't believe for a moment that you were guilty of Irma's death."

Surprised, but pleased, Severus nodded. "Well, that's one more vote of confidence than I thought I'd have."

"I think Filius believes you as well, though he hasn't actually said so," said Minerva. "But belief alone isn't going to be enough. We need to find some evidence, and so far anything we have is pretty meagre and not very helpful."

"Shacklebolt did say he was willing to let me give him my memories of what happened in the library and take them into account when he decides whether to charge me or not."

"That's excellent news!" exclaimed Minerva. "That should settle the question of your innocence."

"I hope so, but it won't get us any closer to finding Irma's killer." Severus shook his head. "Since no one saw the killer leave the library, he had to have hidden inside. Nothing else makes sense. There must be a hiding place there somewhere."

"I don't know of any hidden passages or rooms connected to the library."

"Lupin said the same thing. Apparently he actually checked at one time. I have my suspicions as to why." Severus grimaced.

"What do you mean?" asked Minerva.

Severus sighed. "Potter has this map... Have you seen it?"

When Minerva shook her head, he went on.

"It shows many hidden places inside Hogwarts, including all of the tunnels that lead out of the building. It also shows where people are inside the castle and on the grounds. If my suspicion is correct, Lupin created the thing back when we were in school."

Minerva's eyebrows climbed her forehead. "Really? That sounds like pretty sophisticated magic for a student, even one as bright as Remus."

Severus scowled. "Well, he didn't do it alone."

Minerva nodded in understanding. "Ah, well, I could see the lot of them together managing something like that. They'd each have talents to bring to the table and would no doubt be highly motivated by the usefulness of such a thing."

"No doubt."

Suddenly Severus sat up straighter. "You know, if we could get our hands on that map, it would show definitively whether or not anyone is still hiding inside the castle and where. It would help Shacklebolt in his search for Death Eaters, too. Since Irma's murderer is likely one of the fugitives he's still trying to track down."

"Is this map accurate?"

"I get that impression." It had accurately shown him where Remus had gone and with whom all those years ago, though considering how that all worked out, there had been many times when he wished he'd never laid eyes on it. Still there was no way back... only forward.

"Well, then Kingsley definitely should get a look at it. You said it belongs to Harry?"

"As far as I know he still has the thing. Where is Potter anyway?"

Minerva shook her head. "I don't know. I haven't seen him since the fighting stopped. I'll see if I can find out where he is and if he still has this map. It might be just what we need to solve this. In the meantime, I guess I'll go back upstairs and check the library again. I still think we're missing something there, but I don't know what."

She wiped a weary hand across her brow. "While I'm gone, you should try to get a little rest."

"I was just about to suggest you do the same. You've been up for almost 24 hours by now."

"Yes, I'm going to have to get some sleep soon. Adrenaline can only take you so far and I'm not as young as I once was."

"No, none of us are, unfortunately." Severus winced and rubbed gently at his sore neck.

Minerva gave him a smile. "I don't think I'd call it unfortunate. I, for one, have no desire to go back to the awkward days of my youth. Do you?"

Severus shivered. Live through that time again? With those people? "Only if I could change a few things. Anyway Shacklebolt indicated that he's not in any hurry to deal with me. Apparently investigating Irma's murder isn't number one on his list of things to do right now. So there's really no rush."

"I suppose you're right." Minerva stifled a yawn. "Do you need that book any longer?"

He handed it to her. "No. It's told me what I needed to know. We just have to put that knowledge into practice. I'll explain it all to Lupin the next time I see him."

"Where is he now? Do you know?"

"He came back here all excited at discovering that if he moved through people, they could feel his presence now. Of course, apparently the experience renders anyone he touches virtually unconscious, but since before now he'd been moving through people with no effect, this was a change. He attributed it to passing through the wards on my cell. He said they affected him, and maybe they did, but the effect wasn't cumulative which I think is just as well. I told him that his goal should be to reunite his spirit with his body not to make his spirit more solid."

Minerva nodded. "That's true."

"Anyway, I sent him back upstairs to look around some more. He figured that since no one could see him, he might have an advantage. I'm not sure it will matter, but it was worth a try."

Minerva turned to go. "Certainly, any help we can get is welcome at the moment. I'll check in with Filius or whoever he has guarding the library, return this book, and then go and get some sleep. I'll be back to see you later, Severus."

"Minerva..."

She glanced back a final time.

"Do be careful. That killer is still hiding somewhere. He's killed at least once. I don't imagine he'd hesitate to do it again."

She smiled. "I'll be careful."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

Minerva's feet dragged a bit as she climbed the staircase to the fourth floor once again. The thought of sleep was becoming almost irresistible. She was sure that she'd feel much more capable of tackling the question of Irma's death if she could only concentrate on the problem with a more alert mind.

Deciding that she'd simply return the book and leave any more searching to later, she approached the library to see a hunched over Sybill sound asleep in a chair beside the door. Although she certainly sympathized with the woman's exhaustion, having a guard who was sleeping was no better than leaving the door unguarded completely. If Sybill had been asleep for long, then they now had no assurance that someone hadn't sneaked in or out when no one was watching.

When she came abreast of the sleeping woman, Minerva reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder and shook it gently. "Sybill? Sybill wake up."

Sybill jumped and opened her eyes wide. "Oh! Minerva. I'm awake. I was just resting my eyes for a moment. It's been such a dreadfully long night for us all. Although I suppose it's really the next day by now, isn't it?" She yawned, covering her mouth with a ring bedecked hand, and Minerva was hard pressed not to imitate her.

"Yes, I think it is. Have you been guarding the library long?"

"Not that long, really," said Sybill as she tried to focus her eyes on her watch. "Filius just asked me to take a short shift watching while he got a bit of rest. He said that Pomona would come and relieve me. She should have been here by now."

Minerva sighed, sleep would have to wait a bit longer. "I have to return a book that I borrowed anyway. Why don't you go and see if you can find Pomona while I'm here. I'll stay until one of you gets back."

Sybill got to her feet with alacrity. "Oh, thank you, Minerva. My inner eye is all out of focus. I'm just so exhausted and that's not good for a seer, you know. Proper seeing can only be done when the seer is alert and able to truly concentrate on both the internal and external worlds. I know if I could only get a few hours of sleep I'd be immensely helpful in tracking down the remaining Death Eaters and discerning the truth about what happened to poor, dear Irma. Surely that would be of more importance than pressing me into service guarding an empty room." Sybill peered earnestly at Minerva.

"I'm sure you're right, Sybill," said Minerva. "Go tell Pomona it's her turn to watch then get some rest."

"Oh, thank you!" Sybill smiled happily and tottered off down the hallway. Minerva watched her go for a moment, then with a shake of her head, she entered the library. The huge room was gloomy and silent. She sincerely hoped that Sybill was right and that it was also empty, but the hair on the back of her neck still stood at attention whenever she came inside and that was a sign she'd always taken seriously.

Only a couple of lamps had been left burning, so the first thing she did was bring the rest of them up to light the huge space more effectively. Trying to banish the feeling that was keeping her neck hairs on alert, she strode straight to the Restricted Section and replaced the book she'd retrieved from Severus.

Then she returned to the desk more slowly, peering down each aisle and listening intently for any sound of movement. She saw and heard nothing. When she reached Irma's desk she stopped, then forced herself to look down to where her colleague's body had lain. The stains were gone and everything looked as it always had.

Except that there was a book on the floor beside the desk. Automatically she stooped and picked it up. As she went to place it on the desktop, she was overwhelmed by a sense of déjà vu. Hadn't she already replaced this book on the desk once? Possibly more than once? Why did it keep ending up on the floor? What was it doing there anyway?

She looked at it more closely. It was just an ordinary basic transfiguration text. There was nothing remarkable about it. The shelf it belonged on was right there in front of Irma's desk, but why...

A shiver ran through her as a sudden suspicion crossed her mind. It would only take a rudimentary knowledge of transfiguration to open up a space inside a book that was large enough to hide a man. The proper spells weren't overly difficult and could be as permanent or as temporary as anyone needed them to be. Any competent witch or wizard could make their bags or their tents much larger on the inside than on the outside. It was done all the time.

Yes, those objects were designed to have an interior space where a book was not, but that was only a minor hindrance and none at all to one who really knew what they were doing. Perhaps they'd been looking at this all wrong. Perhaps the killer hadn't found a hiding place. Perhaps he'd simply made one for himself in plain sight, and they'd just been too blind to see it.

Carefully she placed the book down on the desk and stepped back a few paces. Then she drew her wand and shot an expulsion charm at it. The moment the spell touched the book, it exploded outward, sending the book to the floor once more and expelling a large figure draped in black.

As soon as the man's feet touched the floor, he had his wand in his hand and was aiming it at her. Minerva ducked under his first shot and sent one of her own coursing across the desk at his masked face. He managed to avoid it by centimetres and the battle was joined. Up and down the aisles they went, shooting off spells that tore books from the shelves and gouged holes in the stone walls.

Minerva managed to hold her own for a time, but eventually exhaustion began to catch up with her. While the Death Eater had hours to rest in his literary sanctuary, she'd been running all over the castle looking for him, so it didn't really surprise her when eventually she didn't swerve quite fast enough, and one of his shots took her square in the chest sending her flying.

The impact drove her into a nearby section of shelving and when she fell to the floor a number of books came with her, bouncing painfully off her head and shoulders. She rolled over and looked up at her attacker. Although she couldn't see his face, she was certain he was smiling as he stalked across the room and loomed above her, his wand aimed at her head.

She groped futilely for her own wand, but she'd dropped it when she fell, and it now lay just out of reach. As the intruder prepared to cast his final spell, she grimly took some solace in the fact that at least her death should help exonerate Severus. Hopefully the next person to figure out where this Death Eater was hiding would be better prepared to do away with him.

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

Remus finally made it to the fourth floor just in time to see Sybill Trelawney pass him on her way downstairs. She was moving very quickly and he barely managed to get out of her way in time to avoid touching her. In some ways it had been easier to move around when he hadn't had to watch out for people. Slowly he floated down the corridor toward the library.

When he was but a few steps away, he suddenly heard the muffled sounds of fighting coming from behind the door. Moving as rapidly as he could, he swept down the last few feet of hallway, glided through the door and out into the room beyond.

There he saw Minerva and a Death Eater exchanging spell fire and moving rapidly in and out of the stacks. As Remus watched in horror, Minerva was hit and went sprawling on the floor, her wand flying out of reach. While the Death Eater bore down on the now defenceless woman, Remus threw himself forward with what seemed to him to be agonizing slowness and glided through her attacker's body. The effect was immediate and devastating. The Death Eater gasped and collapsed inward, dropping his wand and crying out in pain.

There was a long moment of silence while Remus stared at the writhing man and prepared to move through him again if necessary. Then Minerva gathered herself together, scrambled to her feet, and reclaimed her wand from the floor. Before the man could recover and try to attack her again, she hit him with a full body bind.

The Death Eater stiffened and fell back motionless on the floor. Pulling great gulps of air into her lungs, Minerva bent and picked up the man's wand. She stared around the empty room for a moment before her puzzled frown gave way to a smile of understanding. Although it was clear she still couldn't see him, Remus could tell she suddenly knew he was there.

"Wherever you are, Remus, thank you! Your timing couldn't have been better. I owe you my life," she said as she wiped her brow.

Even though he knew she couldn't hear him, Remus smiled and answered politely, "You're welcome, Minerva. I'm glad I got here in time to help."

He gazed with satisfaction at the immobilized Death Eater knowing that the man's capture meant that Severus would be freed.

Suddenly the door opened and Pomona Sprout peered inside. She gasped when she saw the petrified Death Eater and quickly crossed to Minerva's side. Once she was satisfied that her friend was unhurt, she dropped her gaze to the man on the floor who was staring up in impotent fury from behind his cold white mask.

"Good heavens, Minerva, what happened? I thought I heard a scream. Is this the man we've all been looking for? The one who killed Irma?"

Minerva bent and snatched off the man's mask, revealing a thin, brutal face with furious dark eyes.

"Oh, yes, he's the one who killed Irma. I'm certain of it."

"Was he hiding in here all along?"asked Pomona.

"Yes, and he was being rather clever about it, too. He'd created a wizard's space inside a book, then used a fluidity spell to make himself malleable enough to get inside it. Even if we'd opened the book, unless we'd turned to just the right page, we could easily have missed finding him."

"How did you find him then?"asked Pomona curiously.

"I'd found this same book on the floor by Irma's desk several times. Every time I saw it, I picked it up, set it back on the desk and forgot about it again. This last time I finally wondered why it kept ending up on the floor. I think when things were quiet he probably came out of the book to see if he could get away, but each time he found the room guarded so he went back into hiding. He wasn't careful to set the book in the middle of the desk, so once he slipped back inside; the book simply fell onto the floor again."

She smiled at Pomona. "I just aimed an expulsion spell at the book. I knew if he was really in there, he'd be forced to come out whether he wanted to or not. He still almost got the drop on me, though. If it hadn't been for..."

She stopped and Remus wondered whether she was going to mention his intervention.

"For?" prompted Pomona.

Minerva shook her head. "Nothing. It doesn't matter. All that matters is that now that we've caught him, Severus can be released. Do you know where Kingsley Shacklebolt is?"

Pomona nodded. "I passed him in the entrance hall on my way up here. I think he's preparing to leave. Shall I run and catch him?"

"Yes, please, if you don't mind. I'll wait here with the prisoner."

Pomona quickly left the room and Minerva sank into a nearby chair with a sigh of relief.

With a final smile for Minerva, even though he knew she couldn't see it, Remus headed for the door. Minerva could watch a petrified killer without his help, and he wanted to beat the others downstairs so he could give Severus the good news himself.

At least now when he finally, truly died and had to leave earth for the afterlife, he could go happily, knowing that the man he loved more than any other would finally have the chance to live a free life at last. It was a good feeling.

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

**Two Days Later...**

Severus gently lowered the levitated body to the floor. Then he knelt and pulled the sheet back from Remus's face. He couldn't keep himself from reaching out and caressing the still cheek for a moment before getting to his feet once more. Then he turned to face the hovering spirit beside him.

Remus's eyes were focused on his body and his expression was unsettled. "Do you really think this will work, Severus?" he asked quietly.

"The literature backs me up on it, though there are no guarantees. However, I firmly believe it will work. When the full moon rises, the curse will begin to transform your body. This will break the barriers left behind by the separation hex. I think if you make contact with your body at that time, the curse will draw you back into it and you'll transform as usual. Once the transformation is complete, you'll be reintegrated with your body, and once you've transformed back into a man, you'll be yourself again."

"Sounds logical," said Remus as he gave Severus a tentative smile.

"Yes, it does," said Severus with a small smile of his own.

They simply stared at each other for a moment before Severus cleared his throat and continued, "I've placed extra strong wards around the room and cushioned the walls and floor so hopefully you won't be hurt any more than necessary during your time as a wolf. Since you won't have the benefit of the Wolfsbane potion, this seemed a wise precaution."

"Thanks, I appreciate that. I haven't always been very successful with those spells."

Another long moment of silence fell between them. This time it was Remus who broke it. "Look, I'm really grateful for everything you've done, and just in case it doesn't end up working out the way we'd like it to, I wanted you to know that I'm incredibly sorry I ever doubted you."

Remus instinctively extended a hand then pulled it back before he could touch Severus and possibly hurt him. "I really do love you, Severus. I think I always have, and even if we don't get a second chance to be together, I'm eternally grateful knowing that you'll finally be free to live life the way you want... the way you deserve."

"It won't be the life I want if you can't be there to share it with me," said Severus simply.

This time as the silence grew, a different voice broke it.

"Severus, it's almost time. We should seal the room," said Minerva from the doorway.

Severus nodded and with a final lingering look at his former and hopefully future lover, he turned and headed for the door, closing it firmly behind him. Then while Minerva watched, he turned the key and added a few final seals to the door itself. Once he was finished, he placed his hand, palm flush with the wood, against the door.

"It's going to work out, don't worry," said Minerva reassuringly.

Severus shrugged and turned to look at her. "I know that everything says this should work, but until I open this door again and see him standing there waiting for me, I'm going to worry."

She nodded in understanding. "I suppose so. I don't imagine I'll be getting much sleep tonight myself, but either way we won't know anything until morning, so why don't you come upstairs with me and let me beat you at chess while we wait."

Severus snorted softly. "Ordinarily I'd take you up on that, but I think we both know you wouldn't find me a particularly challenging opponent tonight. I think I'm just going to wait here for awhile."

"Are you sure? You'd be much more comfortable upstairs in the Headmaster's suite."

"Remus isn't going to be very comfortable no matter what happens, and I'm not sure if the Headmaster's suite is really where I should be any longer."

"Of course you should. You're the Headmaster of Hogwarts, nothing has happened to change that. You've been cleared of any suspicion in Irma's death, and I know you'll be completely exonerated when everything related to that monster's reign of terror comes to trial.

"Harry's made those memories you gave him available to anyone who might be judging you. They might not be able to be used in court, but outside of court, they've already gone a long way toward changing everyone's mind about you.

"In fact, public opinion is clearly running in your favour. There's even talk of giving you an Order of Merlin. Unless you've decided that you don't want the job of Headmaster, it's yours for the taking with the blessing of the entire staff this time. We can put this last horrible year behind us and start over. It's not too late."

When he said nothing, she added, "Of course, Horace is looking to retire again. You could always step back into your old job as Potions master if that's what you'd prefer. It's all up to you.""

"I appreciate that, Minerva, really I do, but honestly, I haven't given much thought to what I'll be doing with my life after this night is over. Too much hinges on what happens inside this room."

She sighed and patted him on the arm, squeezing gently before allowing her hand to drop away. "All right, I'll let you be. Should I send a house-elf down with some dinner?"

"No, thank you. I'll be fine."

She nodded and turned away, walking to the end of the corridor before turning back for a last look. He still stood as she'd left him, with a hand pressed flat to the door and his head bowed. Hoping with all her heart that things would work out the way they all wanted them to, Minerva slowly made her way back upstairs, pausing only once to glance out a window at the full moon as it glittered coldly, low in the sky, and cast its silvered light across the ravaged lawn. Then with a sigh, she headed on up to her own room to toss and turn until morning.

XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX XOXOX

**Epilogue**

"Severus..."

Severus jerked awake with the sound of Remus's voice still echoing through his mind. He sat up on the cold stone floor and rubbed at his stiff neck. He hadn't really intended to sleep in the dungeon corridor, but somehow he never managed to make it upstairs and finally exhaustion simply overcame him.

Leaning against the wall for support, he climbed awkwardly to his feet and stretched his weary muscles. Then he pulled a watch from his pocket and checked the time. It was morning, early morning, but definitely after moonset. Whatever was going to happen in the room across the hall had already occurred. It was time to go in and face it.

Straightening up, he slipped his wand out of his sleeve and removed the layers of warding he'd erected last night. Then he unlocked the door and pushed it open. The flickering light of a single lamp high on the wall showed him Remus, wrapped loosely in his shroud, sitting against the far wall. His eyes were closed, and he had a bloody bruise on one cheek.

Severus ran across the room and knelt beside him. He grasped Remus's bare arm and smiled at the warm, solid feel of it in his hand. It had worked. Remus was whole again.

At Severus's touch, Remus opened his eyes. "Good morning," he said softly, a tired smile creased his face. He reached out a hand and brushed his fingers lightly through Severus's hair then down over his cheek and across the fine stubble that covered his chin. Finally he let it drop to Severus's shoulder where he squeezed gently as if checking to be sure he could really touch him once more.

Severus smiled in return. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

"It feels good to be back." Remus winced as he shifted position. "Well, pretty good, anyway. I can't say I missed feeling pain while I was disembodied, but feeling it now does make it clear that I'm really alive again."

"We should get you upstairs and into a comfortable bed so you can get some real rest."

"Will you be joining me?" asked Remus, his smile widened and a teasing sparkle lit up his eyes.

"Perhaps when you're feeling better, if you still want me to, that is."

"I can't think of anything I want more, except maybe this..."

Remus leaned forward and pulled Severus closer until their lips touched... at first lightly, tentatively, and then with more passion, giving in to the deep need for each other that they'd denied for so long. When they pulled apart at last, Remus sighed. "I was afraid I'd never get to do that again."

"So was I," admitted Severus. "But now we have a second chance to get things right."

He helped Remus to his feet. "Think we can do it?" asked Remus.

"I hope so," said Severus.

"We don't exactly have the best track record," said Remus.

"The only way we'll know is to give it a try."

Remus pulled Severus into another deep kiss, smiling happily when they finally parted. "We're off to a good start anyway."

"Yes, indeed, an excellent start," Severus agreed as he wrapped an arm around Remus and the two of them moved slowly toward the door and on into a new life.


End file.
